


Transformers: Metal Force ARC 2: BREAKING THE ICE

by Charged_To_Be_Free_Archives



Series: Transformers: Metal Force Season 1 [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: more characters are going to be added as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:47:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24661030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charged_To_Be_Free_Archives/pseuds/Charged_To_Be_Free_Archives
Summary: Continuation to Transformers: Metal Force ARC 1: THE BEGINNING.There is a lot of work to be done. Cybertronians are missing, Autobots and the Decepticons are stuck on Earth, and new mysteries need to be solved. A quiet before the storm is coming and everyone has to take as much time from it as possible.
Series: Transformers: Metal Force Season 1 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807942
Kudos: 6





	1. Returning home part 1

Location: Iacon. 

A green and yellow U.F.O arrived at the spaceport and landed on one of the special spots designed mainly for shuttles. It's doors opened and two Cybertronians got out of it. The pink femmie, Arcee, was the first to step outside. 

"Thanks for the ride." She took off her stylish visor and turned around, smiling to the shuttle former. "You're a real life savior!"

"No problem!" The U.F.O responded, glimmering her front lights. 

"We’ve been complete fools for thinking that returning home earlier was a blessing." The green mech- Springer, who tried to stand from his seat huffed and reached for a metal box which he handed to Arcee. She put it on her side hook and patted it, making the room for him to come out. "But hey, at least they gave us a refund, right? That’s propably one of the best things we experienced lately.”

"Yeah, you guys were lucky I was around. I haven't had this many passengers since- Oh! Another request just popped up!" When the two of them were out, Cosmos closed her entrance and activated her engines. After a second she pulled herself off the ground. "Gotta go! It was great having you as passagers! Also, it would be really great of you to leave a review on our data profile and tell your friends that we’re opened now!" She said as she stormed off.

“We certainly will!” Arcee waved her goodbye. 

"Well, I'm glad this is over." Springer picked up his own baggage and hid it in his subspace, transforming into a helicopter. “Ready to go?” 

"Yeah, let’s go." Arcee transformed into a shining sports car and together they rolled to the nearest highway, heading forward. During their ride, they noticed that their city wasn’t as crowded as it was before. Something was definetly up.

"You go on a business trip and suddenly everything's closed." Springer commented, flying behind his amica when they entered a turnabout, noticing that some of Iaconian shops and public services were closed at a pretty unusual time for them. 

"At least whatever is happening seems to be mostly prevented." Arcee took the lead, driving to her home. In the meantime, she observed Iacon to spot as many differences between then and before they left as possible.

“Not only the client was an aft, we had to witness the worst traffic in history since Vosian's grand fashion show two million years ago."

"Oh yes, I remember that."

"I'm still trying to buff that spot on my back."

"Still, I’m so proud we managed to get all the orders done and return sooner. It was hard.”

“Immensely hard.”

“But we did it. And if we're lucky enough, they'll accept our designs in the Iaconian booth next!"

"Yeah, yours more likely. How come we’re business partners yet you’re more recognizable than I ever was in my entire career?”

“I put a lot of work and spark into my projects. Keep working and maybe one day you’ll have your own chance to shine.”

“Okay, Miss Celebrity-Wore-My-Collection-That-One-Time, I’ll keep that in mind next time someone thinks I’m your alternative account on global fashion network.” He was smirking and she knew it. Arcee couldn’t help but chuckle at that. 

The ride was long, but they finally managed to get to Arcee’s neighbourhood. They transformed before her house and streched.

"That's it, I'm staying at your place tonight!" The green designer groaned, massaging his neck plating. “It’s too late to fly at this hour anyway.”

"Okay. In that case let’s make it a celebration with tons of goodies then! A success so big needs to be rewarded!" The pink femmie stepped closer to the door and put her servo on the scanner.

"I bet Moonracer had everything planned by now. Pit, I bet she organized an entire party for us like the last time."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Springy. It’s too early, and I told her not to make any more welcoming parties after the last time. I don’t like our neighbours getting dragged into this."

“I never heard any of them complaining though.”

“I’m complaining.”

When the doors opened, the only thing that greeted them was darkness. The lights were turned off, there were no party decoractions, and the whole building seemed rather... empty.

"Huh." Springer scrached his helm. "Well, I guess she propably took your request to spark."

Arcee put down her baggage and stepped inside towards the refueling station. She clapped her servos two times and the lights switched on. "Moony, we're back!" She called for Moonracer, halfly expecting to be jumped, but there was no response. "Hm. She must be staying at Hot Rod's. Why don't we pay them a surprise visit and let them know we’re back?"

"You can go if you want." The green designer sat on the couch, ex venting and laying on his back, covering his faceplates with his arm. "I flew around the whole Velocitron to find us a ride home and got here on my own rotors. I'm close to overheating."

Arcee opened one of the shelves in the refueling station and pulled out an Energon cube out of it. She threw it at her business partner and he managed to catch it.

"Alright, I'll go on my own. You rest."

"Thanks." He said as he took a big sip, his biolights started flickering. 

The pink femmie left her home and headed to her neighbour's. She knocked on the door and waited. She expected either Optimus or Hot Rod to greet her, but to her surprise, no one even came to open her. After some time she decided to come to Bulkhead’s house.The retired engineer promised to check on Moonracer from time to time in case she needed anything from him. She knocked, and again, no one opened.

The femmie couldn’t help but raise an optical ridge. Where was everyone? They went on a walk perhaps? Moonracer was always leaving a note whenever she was leaving somewhere though. That was optional, but strange at the same time.

“Arcee!” The pink designer suddenly heard a voice behind her. She turned around and saw a brown Minicon standing on the nearest house’s counter, waving to her and smiling. “Welcome back!”

“Wheelie!” She smiled back, walking to him. “Hi, how are you?”

“I’m okay, I guess. I managed to clean the house and finally finish the poem I’ve been working on.”

“That’s great! By the way, have you seen Moonracer anywhere? Or Bulkhead? Or Optimus perhaps?”

“Unfortunately, no. I haven’t seen a living spark in almost a week. Then again, I’ve been working whole week so that’s propably why.”

“A week?” Arcee repeated in disbelief. She was actually starting to worry. “They weren’t around for a week?”

“Like I said, I was working. But again again, something strange has been happening lately.”

“What do you mean?”

“For example, I saw some unfamiliar people visiting Optimus’ house. They seemed to be looking for something or someone but vanished as soon as they didn’t find it or them. That’s when the whole thing started and the groundbridges were closed. On the top of everything a few days ago I lost contact with my spark twin and couldn’t reach her ever since. I hope she’s alright.”

“That’s... horrible. I hope she’s alright too. No one said what’s going on?”

“Not yet at least. They have to give an explanation sooner, or late-” 

“Arcee!” Suddenly, they heard Springer yelling for Arcee from one of her house’s windows. “Arcee, come here this instant!”

“Ah, so Springer’s here too, huh? Haven’t seen him in a while.” Wheelie stated. “He seems to be wanting to tell you something important, so I won’t be bothering you anymore.”

“Oh no, no. You’re not a bother... Okay, yeah, I think I really need to go.” She said, stepping back a bit. “Thanks for the info, Wheelie. I hope you’ll reach your sparktwin soon!” 

“Thanks, and again, welcome back!” Wheelie ex vented, jumping from the counter and looking at the leaving femmie. He headed to his own house to try and contact his spark twin for the last time.

\-----

Arcee returned to her house and noticed that the green mech was standing in front of the holographic screen in the living room. She noticed that he had his servo clapped over his mouth and his optics widened. Her worry only grew with that.

“Springer? What’s wrong?” The mech only pointed at the screen. They received a communique of some sort. The femmie went closer and started reading it. 

“’Due to the last series of events involving malfunctioning groudnridges, all lines around Cybertron will be closed. There were-’... What?...” Arcee felt a sudden chill when she got to the second paragraph. “’There were reported multiple cases of missing Cybertronians, some found and some still missing. The list of all missing Cybertronians is going to be uploaded in the near future, in the meantime we ask our citizens to not leave their houses without company and not enter any groudbridges in their areas. All suspicious activities should immediately be reported to the following organizations-’.“

Arcee stared at the screen in pure shock. Multiple cases of missing Cybertronians, closed groundbridge lines and shops in the city. Would this mean that her Moonracer too was...? 

"Moony?" After snapping out of her trans, the pink designer immediately opened her comn link. "Moony, this is Arcee, we're home and waiting for you! Please respond as soon as possible, this is important! Something bad is happening and I need you to return immediately!"

No matter how hard she tried to reach her however, the sea green Speedster wasn't picking up. 

"Hi Bulk!" Meanwhile Springer opened his own comn link and called his friend. "Springer here, listen Moonracer wouldn't have happened to be with you, would she? Where are you by the way? Bulk?! Scrap, why isn't he responding?!"

"Why isn't anyone responding?! Hot Rod’s comn link is dead too!"

"Do you still have Optimus' number?!" The green designer asked.

“Y-yeah, somewhere!” Arcee opened her wrist, revealing a console which activated a small holographic notebook, and started searching through it.

Tons and tons of notes popped on the screen before she reached the Prime's number. When she finally got it, she typed it in her comn link and waited for the signal. Her spark was pulsing like crazy, waiting for the response. After a few minutes the comn went silent and she was forced to hang up. 

"And?" The green mech asked, a part of him hoping to receive a different response than he was already expecting. Arcee turned to him and he noticed that she was crying. Springer stared at her for a second before hanging his head.

“What is happening with my apprentice?...” A shaky whisper escaped her lipplates. Springer decided to come closer to her and gently pull her into a hug.

"I don’t know. I want to know so badly, Cee. But no matter what, we have to stay positive..." The mech said as his own optics started bursting with energy, not fully believing in his own words. "As long as we don't know for sure, we can't assume the worst..."

The femmie completely let her sparkling optics take over. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, sobbing. Springer gave her a comforting squeeze, denta grunting against each other.

“We have to stay positive...”

\-----

Another day spent in the hangar passed, and this was possibly the longest day in Moonracer’s whole lifecycle. She barely spoke to anyone but Hot Rod and it seemed like the atmosphere around was very tense. Even Megatron was quiet that day. The Decepticon activity disappeared and it seemed that they had to be stuck there for a long time. Maybe even forever. In the times like these, she wanted nothing more than to be alone with her thoughts.

Her amica did everything he could to make up for everything that happened, she could tell that he cared. Was she blaming him for dragging her into this? Absolutely not. But a part of her was wondering what would’ve happened if things turned out differently for everyone. She supposed that it didn’t matter anymore since everything what happened happened and she couldn’t really go back and change it. She could only look forward and hope that Cybertron was going to discover where they were sooner or later.

Moonracer was trying to contact Arcee when no one was around. She spent half of the night sitting in her ‘new room’ holding her digit against her audial to the point where it started hurting and wait for someone from home to pick up. The sea green femmie listened with heavy spark as a sudden bell rang, meaning that the person she’s been trying to reach was currently unavailable.

The resignated sea green Speedster sighed, taking her digit out of her audial and laying on her side. She was about to shut down her system when suddenly she heard someone moving outside of her room. Moonracer immediately stiffened, closing her optics.

“Moony?” It was Bulkhead who entered, seeing the laying femmie in the middle of the room. She had her back wheels turned to him and was facing the wall. “Are you still online?” 

She didn’t respond. She couldn’t. The youngling didn’t want to talk to her watcher after everything that happened recently. The retired engineer’s gaze softened as a little huff escaped his frame. After a second, he left. Moonracer thought that he wouldn’t come back, but apparently this wasn’t the case because after some time he did return. 

The sea green femling heard heavy footsteps getting closer and suddenly she felt herself being picked up. She was trying very hard not to move an inch and despite her pulsing spark she managed to trick the green Autobot into thinking that she was in recharge. Bulkhead wrapped her in a big piece of material he found in the hangar and gently returned her on the floor.

“... Stay brave, Moonracer. Everything is going to be alright.” He said, voice softer than she ever heard him speaking. Bulkhead gave her a little pat on the shoulder before exiting the room and leaving, this time for good. 

It took a while for Moonracer to process what happened and when she did, she couldn’t help but wrap herself tighter around the blanket like material and hide herself in it from the rest of the world. 

Maybe the next day would be better.


	2. A Simple Matter Of Words part 1

_It was a peaceful night in Iacon. The owner just closed his supply store, driving home and leaving it alone. Without any warning four vehicles came out of the shadows and rolled closer to the corner next to the building. They were two Speedsters, a hoist, and a tank. One of them was carrying steam shovel on it’s back._

_When they made sure that they were alone, all of them transformed, revealing five Cybertronian frames. Two of them seemed smaller than the others._

_The smaller mech stepped closer to the opening to see if anyone was nearby. It was Hot Rod. Right behind him were four other mechs, including an uncertain looking grey shovel bot._

_“All clear.” The red Speedster whispered, turning to the rest of the group._

_“Alright, here’s the plan:” The tankformer stepped out, giving the younger mech a metal rope with magnetic hook attached to it’s end. It was so heavy he almost dropped it. “There is a crate on the roof. When you open it, you’ll find yourself in the vents. Pick a crate on the left and you’ll find yourself inside. There you’ll search for something I left earlier in one of the asiles. If it stands out from the rest, that’s it. Find it, and you’ll pass the trial.”_

_“And once you’re in, avoid the lasers.” The bigger Speedster instructed, giving him holographic blueprints of the store he somehow managed to get his servos on. “Once you’ll step on them, they’ll activate the security system and you’ll get stuck inside until the poliebots arrive. Good thing for you, this place has no cameras so all you have to do is avoid stepping on them. Ya got it?”_

_“Got it.” Hot Rod nodded._

_“Hey, Rod?” Without any warning, the shovel former started pulling Hot Rod’s arm, gaining his attention._

_“One klick.” Hot Rod said to the older bots, putting down the rope and turning to his friend. The grey bot pulled him away from the group and made sure that they weren’t listening._

_“I still think this is a horrible idea. This is propably the last chance to reconsider and turn back.” The shovel bot said, giving the red Speedster worried expression. Hot Rod couldn’t help but sigh, putting his servo on his shoulder._

_“Rub. You know that’s not an option. Just... you trust me with this, right?”_

_“Of course I do, but...” Rubble peeked from his friend’s shoulder at the older mechs again, just to be safe. “You’re about to break the law!”_

_“For a good cause.”_

_“I’m pretty sure no one is going to care about that in prison, but... can you at least promise that you’ll make it without getting caught?”_

_“Of course I will!” Hot Rod smiled bravely, nodding. “Don’t worry, this is going to be very worth it. You’ll see.”_

_The grey mechling was still hesitant, but decided to step back and ex vent. “Okay, just be careful, okay?”_

_“I will be. It’s going to be an easy in and out.”_

_After some time, Hot Rod turned back to the older mechs and grabbed the rope from the floor. “Let’s start.”_

_The hoist checked for the last time if they were alone and lit his front green lights in approval._

_Hot Rod turned to the wall and swung the rope around until he figured out where to aim. After a second he threw it and waited before pressing the button which activated it’s magnet. The hook opened, sticking itself to the roof. The youngling tugged at the rope to make sure that he wouldn’t fall and slowly started climbing up. He was glancing down from time to time to make sure that he was getting further from the ground. Whenever he did that he ended up catching the others’ stares, watching every move he took. The red Speedster decided not to look down anymore and focus more on his mission._

_Eventually he found himself on the roof. He plugged out the end of the rope and looked around. When he spotted a metal crate in the middle, he went to it and studied it closely. It seemed big enough for him to fit in. The question was, would he be able to lift it?_

_Hot Rod grabbed the opening’s two bars and tried pulling them to himself as strong as he could. He struggled a bit, but eventually managed to open it. The youngling carefully put in on the ground, small puffs of steam escaping his frame. So far so good as some would say, but the hardest part was still waiting for him inside._

_The next step was to move to the vents and find the building’s main hall. Hot Rod refreshed for himself the map again before stepping in, first his arms, then pedes. The area was so small he barely managed to position himself, not to even mention his poor spoiler would suffer from it the most. It curled behind his back as much as possible, but it still was scrapping the vents’ surface. He hoped no one was checking them from the inside. Hot Rod waddled his way forward, looking around. There were little crates on the sides which gave him better view of his position._

_“Look at left... Look at the left... Look at the left...”_

_After a while, one of the crates showed the store’s asiles which meant that he finally reached his destination. Hot Rod, as gently as possible, removed the crate covering the entrance and lifted the end of his rope down, sticking the hook to metal surface of the vent. Hopefully it wouldn’t rip the whole thing off._

_The youngling had to take a break and ex vent, gaining confidence to continue. He gave the rope a gentle squeeze before sliding on it down, stopping right above the ground. His scanners picked up a couple of blurry signatures right under him. The steam from his vents made it clear enough for him to see safe places to step on between red glowing strings of light._

_The red Speedster slowly lowered one of his pedes, fitting it between the lasers. The alarm wasn’t sounded on. After a second he did the same with his second pede, letting go of the rope. He looked up and saw the group from the outside of the shop’s window. He couldn’t help but grin and wave to them, well, mostly to Rubble. The shovel bot shyly smiled back and waved back. The rest of the bots seemed to be silently cheering for him._

_“Okay...” Hot Rod said to himself, stepping as carefully between the lasers as possible, moving forward. He was glancing around and searching for something that what standing out. The pressure and the atmosphere would’ve been enough to make anyone nervous, but not someone as collected and calm as Hot Rod. That’s what he kept repeating to himself throughout the whole trial._

_Finally he spotted a small shiny thing on a self in the Energon cube asile. That must’ve been it. He tiptoed his way to it and understood that, tragically, he was too short for it. The youngling tried multiple times to jump and reach his arms towards it, but he ended up accidentally nudging one of the cubes which fell from the shelf. Hot Rod squeaked and rushed to grab it before it hit the floor. He caught it in the last minute, stepping near the lasers. The group outside jumped from the window and was ready to hide._

_Hot Rod swore his spark stopped working for a couple of seconds. When his pedes were back in the safe zone, he let out a huge relieved sigh and so did others. The mechling scanned the place, there was a metal case nearby which he could use to avoid this situation repeating itself. The red Speedster put the cube back on the shelf and grabbed the case, placing it on the ground before him._

_Hot Rod stood on the case and successfully reached the difficult shelf. He moved the Energon aside, seeing a shiny red crystal hidden in between. A triumphant smile appeared on his facelates as he grabbed it, jumped on the laserless ground, and returned to the window, showing his finding to the others._

_The group started cheering and congratulating him. Hot Rod couldn’t help but giggle when Rubble smiled to him, relieved that he managed to get mission accomplished._

_Unfortunately the celebration didn’t last for long because suddenly Hot Rod spotted a few police vehicles approaching in the distance. His cheerful smile immediately dropped and his optics widened, they were really close to their position._

_“Guys, behind you!” He tried to warn the others, pointing behind them. The group stopped cheering and looked around. The policebots noticed the group of young bots standing in front of the closed store and immediately turned in their direction._

_“Scatter!” The tank former yelled, and the mechs ran in many opposite directions. Rubble tried to say something to Hot Rod but the youngling already started making his way back to the rope, panic constantly rising._

_And then, his luck just wanted to make fun of him in the worst time possible. Due to his hurry, the red Speedster stepped on one of the lasers. At once, the alarm activated and the room started filling itself with vent stuffing steam to block his way out._

_Hot Rod covered his faceplates and ran forward. He didn’t care where he was going as long as he knew that the rope was nearby. The flashing light, the steam, and the commotion was unbearable. So unbearable that he lost any sense of direction whatsoever. Suddenly, he bumped into something. He had only a little time to look up and see that a giant shelf was falling right at him. The last thing he remembered was pain._

**[END OF MEMORY FILE]**

\-----

Without any warning loud alarm sounded in Hot Rod’s audials, making him yelp. The youngling rose from the ground, looking around. It took him a second to calm himself and understand that he just onlined from his recharge. He couldn’t help but groan and bump his back against the ground again, covering his faceplates with his arm. He was back on Earth, in his stupid room and in the same stupid hangar as before.

The red Speedster clenched his free servo and felt soft material under him. He picked it’s edge to study it. Someone wrapped him in a blanket while he was offline. 

"Great..." He whispered, rubbing his optics. Hot Rod decided to sit and open his spark chamber, just to make sure that everything what happened a few days ago was real.

It was. Hot Rod was immediately greeted with bright light of the Matrix buried inside of his core. It wasn't just some crazy vision caused by overheating or something. Hot Rod sighed, closing his sparkchamber.

"Good morning Optimus...” He murmured, placing his servo on his chest. “Hope you're having a better day than I am."

Hot Rod stood up and slowly headed towards his room’s entrance. He placed his servo on the wall out of habit but quickly drew it back when he realized that there was no opening panel there.

“Right...” He used his servos to separate the material door like thingy and have a peek at the hallway. As Hot Rod stepped out, he met Ravage on the passing. The Minicon glanced at him briefly and then ran away in the opposite direction. The youngling turned his head towards him for a second but then decided to continue on his way. He just wanted to get his day started already.

\-----

Hot Rod walked to the centre where already were waiting for him Moonracer, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee. Megatron was nowhere to be seen. 

“Good morning, Hot Rod.” Bulkhead greeted him. 

“Morning, guys.” The red Speedster replied and walked to his amica. He looked behind the green mech and noticed five huge barrerls standing behind him. “What’s that?”

“Our fuel!” Bumblebee smiled, patting one of the barrels. “Humans just brought them.”

“Oh. Cool.” Hot Rod crossed his arms.

“I wonder if it’s like our Energon back home.” Moonracer wondered, glancing at the red Speedster.

“I hope so.” Hot Rod curiously tilted his head. 

“We’ll soon find out.” Bulkhead said, putting a ring on his wrist which transformed his servo into a pocket knife.

“Hold on,” Hot Rod squinted. “I thought you didn’t have your tools.”

“Hot Rod,” The retired engineer couldn’t help but look at him somewhat offended. “I always carry my tools with me.”

“But you said back there-”

“I said that I needed my tools **and** coordinates. Without them I can’t do scrap.”

“Oh... Sorry."

Bulkhead dig the knife’s blade into the barrel’s top edge and carefully cut it open. He rose the carved metal and younglings went closer. They tiptoed to peek inside, but immediatelly stepped back when the smell hit their sensors.

“What is that?!” Moonracer gagged in disgust. Bulkhead seemed puzzled until he scanned the fuel they were given. His optics immediately widened and Bumblebee went closer to have a look for himself.

“... No way.”

“What is wrong with them?!” Bulkhead roared. He decided to open the rest of the barrerls. Surprise surprise, they all were filled with the same substance.

“Okay. Of all things I expected to get, I didn't expect high grade being on the list.” Moonracer said.

“Do these idiots really expect me to give you this?!” The green Autobot was furious. “What kind of irresponsible being is making those decisions?!”

Well, that was certainly a disappointment. Apparently they couldn’t even have a normal refueling anymore. At least as normal as it could’ve been. Bumblebee couldn’t help but sigh and turn to the younglings. “I’m sorry, kids.”

“No need to feel sorry.” Moonracer asured looking at her amica. “Hot Rod, do you have anything?”

“Hm. One pack and a half, plus one small cube.” Hot Rod said, opening his boot. The younglings started revealing whatever small portions of Energon goodies they had, surprising the older mechs. Hot Rod pulled out a metal package and small cube of Energon while Moonracer had a metal case with her. She opened it, revealing six shining purple orbs and offering them to others.

“Not the ideal morning refueling, but it’s still something, right?”

The yellow scout smiled to her, taking one of the orbs. “You two are real life saviours.” Bulkhead and Hot Rod took each one as well.

“Cheers!”

“Cheers.” The younglings bumped the orbs against each other, making a small ‘tink’ sound before taking a bite. Goodies weren’t as good as normal Energon when it came to energy purposes, but it was enough for them to keep going for a while.

The retired engineer glanced at the goodie before hiding it in his subspace. “I’ll make sure that you’ll get something better today.”

“Do you need help with that?” Moonracer asked, wiping the purple Energon from her faceplates. 

“No, I just need to make a call. And if I needed something, I’m sure Bumblebee can help me.”

“I sure can.” Bumblebee replied assuringly. “You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“Well, okay. Thanks.”

“Can I go now?” Hot Rod hesitantly asked, looking up.

“You just got here. You’re in a hurry or something?” Bumblebee asked half jokingly.

“No, of course not. I just wanted to go to my room.” He wanted to assure that he wasn’t going anywhere outside of the hangar, but Bulkhead nodded first.

“Yes. You can.”

“Thanks.” Hot Rod smiled, stepping back. He managed to finish his goodie on his way back.

“Can I go too?” Moonracer asked after a while.

“Yes, both of you can go... Just be careful around, alright?”

“Okay.” After they bot left, Bulkhead let out a heavy ex vent. Meanwhile Bumblebee slurped the rest of the Energon out of the goodie and tiptoed to the barrel, filling it with high grade.

“Bumblebee!” Bulkhead turned to him and frowned. The yellow scout just looked him in the optics before shamelessly taking a long sip of the substance, still making eye contact.

\------

“I wish I could understand something.” Moonracer huffed, laying on her front in Hot Rod's room and trying to read a book. Nowdays it seemed to be the only good way of spending time. 

“It’s easier with books with pictures you know.” Hot Rod was laying on his back, holding a problematically small book between his digits. “Not that it’s any better, but you can at least make up what’s happening.”

“Maybe, but I like stories without pictures more. At least I think this what I’m reading right now...”

“It has a plane on the front, so it’s propably some adventure book.”

“The question is, is the plane the main character, or...?”

“By the warm greetings I received back in London, I wouldn’t speculate that humans thought about it.”

“Yeah, you’re absolutely right.” The femling wandered with her thoughts somewhere else for a second. “... Hey, Rods?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you miss the most about Cybertron?” The sudden question surprised Hot Rod a bit. He had to consider if he wanted to have this conversation right now. It’s been like three days already and he hadn’t stopped thinking about his home planet every since, even for a second. It was propably better to get this over it now rather than later, wasn’t it? The red Speedster closed the book and put it aside. 

"... I miss datapads." He begun with something simple, optics stuck on the ceiling. “I miss how fast they were, and how useful they were. I feel like everything slowed down ever since. You?”

“I miss real Energon. Goodies are good and all, but I don’t want to eat them for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to say anything before, but I fear that humans knew exacly what they were doing when they were sending us high grade barrels. I hope they didn’t and it was a simple mistake after all.” 

"Wow... I didn’t thought about it that way. I’m kind of getting scared myself.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh no, no. It’s fine, I just... Okay, let’s think of something else. I also miss normal roads, houses, our civilization. You know, basic things. I also feel weird being basically a Titain to someone. Anything else?”

"An actual technology. Everything is so weird and confusing around. When I onlined I had to remember that I basically recharge on the ground now.”

"Oh yeah, I had to remember that we have to open doors remotely now. Oh, I also miss my quarters."

"Mine too. I miss Iacon overall.”

“We miss about everything at this point. I even miss Alpha Trion.”

“Sheesh, Rod.” Moonracer chuckled. “Things are THAT bad?”

“Oh, quiet you.” Hot Rod grinned, placing his servo on her face. After some time they sighed longlingly.

"I miss Cybertron..." They both said at the same time. 

"... I really wish Optimus would be here..." The red youngling sadly looked away.

"And I wish Arcee would be here too..." The sea green Speedster shut down her optics. "I hope she’ll have a safe trip back home.”

“I hope Optimus is recovering well.” 

“If our mentors were here, they'd know what to do."

"They would..."

Suddenly their lament was interrupted by muffled noises coming from the nearby sheet wall. 

"What was that?" Moonracer reacted first, sitting.

“Propably Megatron.” Hot Rod huffed in irritation. “His room is close to mine’s.”

The sea green youngling stood up and went closer to the wall, putting her audial on it. “Why do you think we don’t see him around anymore?”

“I don’t know and honestly I couldn’t care less. If he and his friend want to stay there hiding from us like cowards, that’s their choice. Not that I’d like to see their faceplates anytime soon anyway.”

Moonracer listened closely and after a second her optics widened as she stepped back. “What?!”

“What's wrong?” Hot Rod rose an optical ridge, standing up and heading to the wall to listen for himself. The sound was muffled, but he tried to make up what Megatron was saying.

“The final night is ahead of us.” The rebel’s voice said. It was deeper and more severe than the youngling ever heard him saying, it completely caught him off guard. “Today we stand together, brother. Reunited, at last. And soon, this world shall know the taste of my conquest!”

**“What?!”**


	3. A Simple Matter Of Words part 2

The younglings were absolutely horrified by what they were hearing. Megatron’s shadow was marching around the place, making all kinds of dramatic gestures. It’s movement was fluent, although twitchy and out of balance at times. 

"For as long as my memory reaches, we've been living in the darkness.” The Decepticon didn’t seem to care if anyone nearby was hearing him, his voice was clear, loud, and proud. It was terrifying to witness.

“We offered them knowledge, and they called us madmen. Criminals, even! No one saw the meaning behind my genious... My perfect world was ruined by those who dared to call themselves our allies! We've been imprisoned for reaching the stars, for speaking the truth! Look at them now, worms playing by the fake gods’ rules... Dancing like pretty puppets, fighting like filthy beasts, wasting their lives to live in the so called harmony and peace... This ends **now!"** The younglings heard a stomp which made them jump. Hot Rod didn’t notice that his pede stepped dangerously close to the metal pole supporting the sheet wall which was separating them from Megatron. 

"The raging fire of my wrath shall not be contained anymore! We will rise, **rise I say!** And the galaxy itself will be **devoured** by my flames! Everything shall be reborn! Unicron, my master, you will return!... Together, we'll put an end to this pitiful universe and create another! A beautiful land of pure, uncontrolled **chaos!** "

Moonracer and Hot Rod hoped that Megatron didn’t see them slowly moving back. They tried to head to the exit and return to others, but unfortunately Hot Rod’s pede nudged the metal pole, making it fall. He gasped and tried to grab it, but the sheet was already dropping on the floor, revealing Megatron standing in the middle on his room with one servo raised above his head. He noticed an unexpected audience shortly afterwards

The group ended up awkwardly staring at each other for a couple of seconds before the younglings took some action. Both of them transformed into vehicles in order to escape.

“Wait!” Megatron tried to stop them. He grabbed them by their spoilers, preventing them from running.

“Bulk!”

“Bumblebee! Help!” They yelled. Megatron managed to get a better grip on the two and pick them up. Hot Rod and Moonracer transformed in his grasp, starting hitting and pushing him away from themselves.

"Let us go, you maniac!” Moonracer demanded.

"Okay! Okay! Here!" After a second Megatron put them down and they jumped away from him as far as possible. The Decepticon started feeling guilty for his choice of actions and took a step back himself. “I’m sorry! You panicked and I panicked, and I felt like I had to stop you! Did I hurt you?”

"You tried to take us hostage!" Hot Rod barked, raising his fists up for self defence.

"And you tried to summon Unicron!" Moonracer added, pointing her digit at him.

“What? No, I- Oh! You mean...” He let out a small chuckle. “No, no this isn’t... I was just practicing!”

“For what?!” Hot Rod asked. “World domination?!”

“For fun! That was a snippet from my favourite play back on Cybertron! ‘The lost fate of king Galvatron’. It was a hit back in... my day, I guess. It was a great play! So powerful and inspiring! Ravage said I’m doing an amazing Galvatron impression, so I wanted to present it for him later! Makes sense, right?”

“A likely story!” Hot Rod frowned. “Why should we believe you?!”

“... Do you really think so low of me?” Megatron asked, sounding somewhat hurt. “That after everything I’d just try to do whatever evil thing you think I’m doing without- okay, seriously, how do you think would I even do that?”

“I don’t know, you spent the last few days plotting!"

“Propably.” Moonracer added.

“Propably plotting!”

“Come to think of it, calling for evil reinforcments is also a possibility.” She grabbed her chin thoughtfully.

“Or trying to activate some evil machine, there are many options!”

“You know what is also an option?” Megatron crossed his arms, rising an optical ridge. “Giving everyone some space and letting you two fuse boxes chill. I wanted to wait a few more days, but I guess we’re doing this now.”

They went silent, still frowning at him. The Decepticon sighed, running his servo down his forehead. “Primus, you really think so low of me. Again, there’s definetly my fault lying there, we’ve had a very rocky start... Alright, there has been a fair share of misinformation going around and maybe we can finally sort this out?”

Megatron sat down, crossing his legs and straightening up, gesturing with his servo at the floor.

“Just... Let’s sit down and talk, okay?” He said. Hot Rod and Moonracer were surprised and a bit unsure what to do. “I promise I’m not going to pick you up again without your permission.”

The amicas exchanged a look. Moonracer was the first to, still hesitantly, sit down. Hot Rod glanced at her and then at Megatron who gave him an assuring smile. He grumbled, following her lead. He crossed his arms and looked away, not seeming too interested to cooperate.

“Let’s start with stating some things, I am not evil.” The Decepticon put his servos over his spark. “I may be many things, but evil is not one of them. Trust me, I’d know. I don’t want to take over the world, I don’t want to summon Unicron, I don’t want to eat sparklings for breakfast.”

“How did you know about the last one?” Moonracer asked.

“I’ve been familiar with propaganda before.” Megatron said, clearing the so far uncertain information for the rest of the youngling’s life.

“Now that we have basics out of the way, I want to explain what happened. The question is, what should be explained first. Any ideas?”

“Why are you asking us?” She asked again. 

“I’d like to bring some interaction into this conversation. You ask me a question, I answer, there is a possible discussion to be had. Simple, educaional, fun.”

“I guess that makes sense...” She stated, thinking. “How about this, how the frag did you make all those groundbridges?”

“Ah, straight forward I see. I like your style. And if I’m being honest I’m only like eighty percent sure myself. Maybe seventy nine. Apparently there is some groundbridge stuck in my chest that keeps activating whenever I’m in the right mood for it.”

“How?”

“Long story short, basically me and my ex lab assistant were experimenting on groundbidges and one day I got superpowers.”

“So can you like... open a groundbridge whenever you want without having a Groundbridge Ring nearby?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s... that’s pretty much what I wanted to talk about with you... Do you have any other questions before we’ll get to the big thing?”

“I have a few, actually. Hot Rod, you... you wouldn’t mind if I...?”

“Hm? Oh. No.” Hot Rod said, still looking away. He brought his knees close to his chest and rested his cheek behind them. “Shoot whatever you want, I... I don’t really care.”

“Okay." She and Megatron looked a bit worried. She eventually decided to push the conversation further and continued.

“So, about these questions.”

\-----

“What is that thing?” Bulkhead asked, narrowing his optics. On the wall next to the refueling area was hanging a device of some sort. It was a black box with a red button in the middle of it. There was a note attached to it’s side which they couldn’t read. It was possibly the ugliest thing the two of them had ever seen.

“I think that’s it?” Bumblebee said, kneeling before it. “I’ve never seen a communicator like that.”

“It doesn’t look very convenient.” The green mech brought his digit close to it. The communicator’s model seemed to be too big to be placed in an audial, but also too small to be used manually. It was, again, a not very convenient invention. 

“I‘m going to crash it, won’t I?”

“Let me try.” The scout nudged the bigger mech on the side, making him move. He led his own servo closer to compare it. It wasn’t a very good pick either, but his digit was definetly smaller than Bulkhead’s. “Okay, I think I can press this if I’m careful enough.”

Ravage was passing by that area and saw the two Autobots kneeling in front of the metal wall. He tilted his head and decided to walk closer to them.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Trying to contact the liaison.” The retired engineer answered without looking back.The Minicon slipped in between the two to take a look at the communicator himself.

“Is that how you’re supposed to reach her?”

“With her or with others working out there, it doesn’t matter as long as we’ll get to voice our complaints.”

“Great. While you’re at it, can you make one for me? They didn’t give me a room and I have to share with Megatron. It’s absolutely humiliating.”

“Already on the list. Bumblebee, please be careful with that.”

“I’m being as careful as I can...” The scout replied, voice somewhat lowered. His digit was shaking.

“You’re going to crash it at this rate.”

“It’s really hard when all optics are on me.”

“You know, maybe I should be the one to do that.” Ravage suggested, raising his paw. “My servos are the smallest as far as I know.”

“You also have claws that could easily damage the communicator.” Bulkhead noticed.

“At least they’re more useful than you, Metroplex’s digits.” The Minicon sassed.

“What was that about my digits?”

“Guys, seriously! I got-” Suddenly, Bumblebee moved his digit too close too fast, accidentaly crashing the device. His optics widened.

“... Yeah, definetly saw that coming.” Ravage stepped back.

“Bumblebee!” Bulkhead shouted.

“You were literally distracting me the entire time!” The yellow minibot stepped back as well, raising his servos above his head.

“This was the only thing we were aware of that we could contact the liaison with!”

“I swear you are worse than the actual younglings in here.” Ravage said, jumping on the counter in front of the device.

“You were as much responsible for this as the rest of us!” Bulkhead frowned.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.“

“What are we supposed to do now?” Bumblebee said. “I doubt they’re going to let us out just like that and ask for fuel.”

The Cassette was waving his tail back and forth, when suddenly a solution popped into his mind.

“I know what to do.” He said, gaining the other mechs’ attention. “I haven’t done that in a while so it may take a bit longer, but I think I can help you out.”

\-----

“One thing led to another and soon we were climbing all the way to Nova Major’s mansion with only one goal in minds: dip a dead Scraplet into his drink.”

“No.” Moonracer gasped, snorting. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, but we did.” The rebel grinned, nodding. “The guards were everywhere so we took a shortcut to the dinning area through the series of useless secret rooms he decided to have. Once Ravage dropped the diseased pest into his favourite chalice, we escaped through the window as quickly as possible.”

“Did it work?”

“Like a fragging charm. Old narccisist ran out a cycle later, screaming at the top of his vocalizer. He came all the way down to the Kaon’s park where guards were stationed and reported that ‘A local street sweeper cursed his house!’“ Megatron pretended a voice of an old man, making the sea green femling laugh.

Hot Rod was silent the entire time. He was glad that his amica was having fun, but at the same time he felt like this was taking forever. He just wanted to hear what Megatron had to say about the incident and determin if it was true or made up.

“So basically, that was a fun way to spent Impactor’s five and a half millionth’s emerging date.” Megatron let out a small chuckle which, uncharacteristically, died down rather quickly and his expression suddenly changed. His grin faded and he became more serious. He ex vented, straightening up.

“But that was before my time in the Alchemor. After that things have... changed. I’m sorry, do you have any other questions?”

“No.” Moonracer shook her head, noticing the sudden change in his posture. 

“Okay. Okay. I guess this is the time for the big thing.”

Hot Rod became more aware of what they were talking about. He tried to pretend that he still didn’t care, but he was listening carefully.

“Let’s start with what you know so far, alright?”

“All we know is that there was a gigantic explosion on the sky when all this happened.” Moonracer explained, trying to remember all the details of that night. "It was late and Optimus Prime, the Decpticons and, well, you were involved.”

Megatron nodded, trying to create a picture in his head of what happened.

“We just want to know, was that ship yours?”

“No.” Megatron answered honestly. “I have never seen that ship before in my life.”

“But you were on board when everything happened?”

“I was.” He admitted. Hot Rod frowned. “But I wasn’t there to conquer. I was looking for a... friend.” Mrgatron glanced down. “At least that’s what I thought of him at the time. He was the one who let me out of the Alchemor in the first place. Accidentally.”

“Accidentally?”

“He tried to kill me. Thankfully Ravage was there to stop him. I wanted to know why did he do that. When I became aware of his actions, he tried it again. Then things escalated quickly and horribly. It was happening so fast, the ship started falling apart and... I didn’t know what was going on until it was too late and that my groundbridges may have been to blame for it. I’m afraid that bots behind the situation used to be my fellow rebels. I don’t know why and when they decided to turn against me, or did they got manipulated into doing this, but... If they hurt someone, they need to face consequences for it.”

Hot Rod tightened his grip on his knee.

“Yeah.” He finally said, giving the older mech a side eye. “Would be really nice for someone to finally take responsibility for it." 

This caught Megatron and Moonracer off guard. Moonracer sensed the growing tension between the two almost immediately.

“... Maybe I’ll should check on Bulkhead and Bumblebee. See if they need any help. I’ll be right back.” She said as she stood up, leaving the two mechs behind.

Megatron felt very unease when Hot Rod kept staring at him with daggers in his optics, but there was no going back now.

“... So, Hot Rod.” He started, tapping digits against his kneeplate. “Do you have any questions before we begin?” No answer. “Okay, great. Let’s get to the point. Anything patricular you want yo know first?...”

“Optimus.” Hot Rod replied. “You admitted that you hurt him.”

“No, I didn’t. I admitted that I puuulitely explained to him some things.”

“How old do you think I am? I know what you meant.

“Yes, I know, I’m sorry. I laid one, just one hit. Nothing more nothing less and it was fully deserved.”

“What was he doing there?”

“I don’t know, I was surprised to see him myself. He said that my fr... Ex friend was about to do something horrific. Then things started getting out of servo.”

“Were the Decepticons trying to invade Iacon?”

"I'm not sure, but... It looks like it.”

“I knew it.” Hot Rod murmured, looking down.

“... Listen. I wish things had been resolved differently. Pit, I can’t believe I was there and didn’t stop it. You have all the rights to be mad. I just want you to know that I’m not here to hurt any of you.”

“Except Optimus.”

“Okay, what is with that Optimus obsession? I just... I can’t believe that a person so young would defend him as fiercly as you do right now. Is he some kind of role model to you? Trust me, he’s not worth it. I wouldn’t trust him with younglings if my life depended on it.”

 **“Wow** , thanks.” Hot Rod said sarcastically. It took a few seconds for Megatron to process that response and then he studied Hot Rod again, mouth agaped.

“...No. You’re not... You’re not serious right now, right? Optimus would never...”

“What? Take a brat like me under his wing?”

“No! I... I don't... You are Optimus’ student?!”

Hot Rod just continued glaring.

“... Wow." Megatron put his servo over his head, then ran it down his faceplates. "I've really been away for a long time. I'm not an easy to surprise mech, but... **Wow**..." 

After a small break to calm himself, Megatron took an in vent and was ready to continue.

"So following by the trail of this story, you and your amica arrived at the place of the crash and got teleported to Earth."

"But before that happened, we saw Optimus. He was..." Hot Rod didn't have strenght to continue his reply. Megatron's gaze significantly softened. After some time he extended his servo. Hot Rod noticed it and looked up.

“I’m sorry this happened to you and your friends, Hot Rod. None of you deserved to be dragged into this, including Optimus. I’m not asking for forgiveness, neither for a chance. What I want is to give you my word, I’m going to do everything in my power to return you home safely. And after everything is over, you’ll never see me again.”

Hot Rod glanced at the servo before him and then at the mech. He was very hesitant at first, but at this point things just couldn’t get any worse. Perhaps he could've just as well try making out of it as much as he could.

The youngling slowly moved his own arm forward. He let out a sigh and grabbed the older mech’s servo, giving it a little shake.

“... After this is over, I’m taking you in and you’re going back to the Alchemor.” Hot Rod stated, looking bravely in Megatron’s optics. Megatron didn’t smile, nor grin this time. Instead he gave him a small, non threatening grimance.

“This I can’t guarantee you, I’m afraid.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Whatever you say.” The Decepicon shrugged. After a second he let go of the younger bot’s servo and stood up, heading to the exit.

“Where are you going?” Hot Rod asked.

“To get some fuel.” Megatron replied, streching up. “I haven’t had any decent source since the junkyard.”

“I wouldn’t count on that changing anytime soon if I were you.” The Autobot stood up himself, following him.

"Why?” Megatron asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going to be less depressing I swear


	4. A Simple Matter Of Words part 3

“Get rid of that.” Ravage requested. Bulkhead and Bumblebee cleaned the remainings of the communicator leaving nothing but a hole in the wall. There was a panel behind it.

“Step aside.” The Mincon turned around and sat down. His tail transformed and a single quill extended from it.

“It can do that?” Bumblebee’s optics widened.

“Hacking patch.” Bulkhead stated. “Althought a rather old model. I used to have similiar in my workshop back on Cybertron.”

“Were you even allowed to have that?”

“Of course I was. Not like it was functional anyway.”

“Akhem!” Ravage interrupted, gaining the mechs’ attention back. “Now to make it as clear as possible, this is the first time I’m using my patch this way. I don’t know for how long I’m going to be there and what’s going to happen in the meantime, but for your and especially mine safety purposes, don’t touch me. Got that?”

“Crystal clear.” The scout nodded. The Minicon ex vented, closing his optics. He slowly moved his tail to the panel, finding a perfect spot to plug himself in. Bee and Bulkhead heard his system shutting down, going into recharging mode.

“Hey guys!” Suddenly Moonracer jumped out of nowhere, startling the two. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Bumblebee assured. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see if you needed any help with whatever you’re doing.”

“We’re trying to call the liaison.” Bulkhead said.

“With this Ravage shaped communicator?”

“Actually, that’s the real Ravage. He participated to replace the communicator after **someone** broke the previous one.” The green mech stared at Bumblebee while saying that. The yellow scout stared back with a frown. After a second he turned back to the sea green Speedster. “Where’s Hot Rod?”

“Oh, he’s having a chat with Megatron. They should be done soon, I think.”

“... I see... You know, we could use some help with getting those nasty things out of the way.” The retired engineer pointed at the barrels standing in the middle of the room. “If it’s not too much to ask.”

“It’s not.” She nodded, walking to them and picking one up. Bumblebee and Bulkhead started helping with the rest.

\-----

"So... This is what you meant." By the time Hot Rod and Megatron finished their talk, all barrerls were removed and the room cleared.

"Pretty much." The youngling replied, stepping closer. When Bumblebee noticed the Decepticon approaching, he couldn’t help but feel wary towards him. The retired engineer spotted Megatron after him. Hot Rod moved closer to his amica, while the rebel stood next to him, looking at Ravage.

“Is he okay?”

“He is. Did something happen?“ The green Autobot whispered. “I can talk with them if you want.”

“Oh no, there is no need.” The Decepticon shook off his servo. “I explained everything I could explain, I think we’re good for now.”

“Alright. And what about your...?” Bulkhead gestured at his spark and his side, giving the other mech an idea of the things he was referring to.

“Oh yes, I feel so much better now, in both aspects.”

”Are you sure? No new symptoms or anything?”

“Not at all. Besides, I gave you my word and I’m not about to break it anytime soon.”

“You better don’t. Once we’ll reach the liaison, I’m going to request a few extra parts to see if I can do something to block the groundbridges for good.” The retired engineer said. “Give you at least some control over them.” Megatron couldn’t help but smile.

“You are far too kind, Bulkhead. I truly appreciate that.”

\------

Ravage was right. It was indeed taking long.

The group settled down and decided to list everything they needed. It was a long list, but they managed to finish it before Ravage gave any signs of life. It got to the point where the waiting turned into an annoying boredom.

“... Okay,” Bumblebee said after some time, shifting his opsition. “I’m done sitting here and not doing anything. Anyone has any ideas what to do?”

“Oh, how about some stories!” Megatron immediately reacted. “I have plenty more of them to share!”

The yellow scout didn’t look too convinced. He looked away and noticed that Moonracer wanted to say something, but stopped herself at the last second.

“Do you have any ideas?” He asked her, catching her off guard.

“Oh no, I just... I can bring some books, I guess...” She said, sounding a bit unsure.

“Sounds great!” Bumblebee smiled to her, calming her down a bit. Megatron looked a bit hurt. “Bring them in.”

The young fembot went to her room and returned with a stack of tiny squared objects in her arms. She gave each bot one, except Bulkhead who refused his.

“Alright, what do we do with it now?” The scout asked, scanning the item.

“Usually we’re trying to read them, but we can’t understand a single word from them.” Hot Rod explained. Megatron flipped his book on the side, tilting his head. “At this point it’s like a competition of who’s going to figure out what the book’s about first.”

“I can understand it just fine.” The rebel said, slipping a bunch of pages between his digits. The group glanced at him with shock.

“You...”

“You what?!”

“It’s not so complicated, actually.“ Megatron grinned, presenting them his book. “All you have to do is imagine what this book is about.”

The youngling’s shock faded immediately after his confession.

“This is basically cheating.” The sea green Speedster said.

“And who’s going to be the judge of that? Even if, we don’t know if I didn’t guess it by the power of lucky convenience.”

“That’s...” Moonracer pointed her digit at him and wanted to speak, but had no idea how to respond to that. She drew it back after some time. “Okay, that’s actually a good point.”

“So what’s it about?” Hot Rod asked.

“Before I begin, I’d like to hear your stories first. Do you have a story, Hot Rod?” The youngling went silent for some time. He was glancing between his book and Megatron who was giving him an encouraging smile. He decided to cooperate this time. Only a little bit.

“Mine’s an... an adventure book.” The red Speedster said, rising his book “It’s about a brave boatformer Rust who’s on a mission to find... a lost city and save the world.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. She has her brave friends on her side and her own spaceship. She’s unstoppable.”

“Sounds like a really great story. Moonracer, what about you?”

“My book is... a detective book.” She joined. “It’s about a private detective who is hired to solve a mystery of missing relics. She’s being chased by an organization that doesn’t want her to go too deep and, you know. It’s a detective story with chasings and stuff.”

“I bet it’s fun.”

“Yeah.” Moonracer didn’t smile, but she looked glad to be validated. “It is.”

“I have a story too.” Bumblebee joined as well. “It’s about a lost space ranger who travels to the past and experiences how Cybertron came to be. The story comes with a shocking twist at the end.” The rebel suddenly snorted. Bumblebee immediately reacted to that with a frown.

“What?”

“Oh no, nothing. Just... a twist? Of all creative and imaginative things you could’ve chosen, that’s what you’re going with?”

“What? You think you have a better story than me, old mech?” Bumblebee’s insult made Megatron laugh.

“Why don’t we find out whose story is better? Let’s present them alltogether and then make a final verdict. What do you say, Bumble-ultimate storyteller?”

“I say I hope you imagined a callendar in that book of yours, because I’m about to narrate you to the next week!” The yellow minibot smirked, pointing his digit at the bigger mech. The younglings exchanged a confused, yet somewhat amused look.

“Bring it on then!” Megatron chuckled, standing up. “Who’s going first?”

\------

Another hour without any signs from Ravage passed. Megatron, Bumblebee and the two amicas were telling themselves stories they came up with on the waiting while Bulkhead watched them from afar. Someone still had to keep an optic on the awaited Minicon. 

“And thus the brave space ranger became a new guardian of time and space. With the help of his mentor he managed to return balance to all twenty realms and save his friends from the Phantom Zone. A few survivors can argue that they can still sometimes hear their leader’s last words whispered through the acid wastes so they can forever remember their great victory.” Bumblebee made a dramatic bow as finished his story.  
“Thank you for listening.”

“Wow.” Moonracer made a small clap.

“You thought about all this in a few clicks?” Hot Rod asked. They couldn’t lie, they were pretty impressed.

“What can I say,“ The yellow scout grinned, giving Megatron a smug glance. “It’s a matter of creative and imaginative talent.”

The Decepticon returned the grin, unfolding his arms and stepping closer.

“I suppose it’s my turn now. Is everyone ready for my surprise?”

“Just gotta say,” Hot Rod rested his chin on his servo. “it’s going to be pretty hard to top Bumblebee’s story.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll change your mind once you’ll hear it.” The rebel cleared his throat, taking a theatrical posture which made the yellow scout roll his optics and shake his head in amusement.

“The Crystal City was a place where came to life many Cybertronians big and small, including the biggest Cybertronian of them all- a titan named Sparks.”

“What kind of titan name is that?” Hot Rod commented. Megatron shushed him.

“Please don’t interrupt me.”

Bulkhead listened to the stories when he could. He had to split his attention between watching Ravage and the rest of the group. Between one of the story breaks, the Minicon’s body slowly leaned forward. The green Autobot turned around just in time to see that the Cassette’s head was getting dangerously close to the edge.

“Sparks seemed nothing like the rest of his fellow Cybertronians. He was too big to own a house, he had to tiptoe every time he walked around others, and his shout could literally shatter glass around the whole city. Because of his size he also had trouble finding friends. Everyone was scared to do as much as speak to him. It was a true shame because he was, quite literally, the biggest sweetspark Cybertron has ever seen.”

Before the Cassette’s body hit the ground, Bulkhead catched it as fast as he could. It was propably a mistake because a sudden rush of electricity ran through his system at the same time the contact was made. The green Autobot shivered from it, but after some time returned Ravage to his spot, lying him down so he wouldn’t lose balance again.

“Sparks felt like an outcast. No matter how hard the he tried, he couldn’t get anyone to be his friend. One day, Sparks decided to hide in the forest so no one would fear him anymore. He stayed there for a few days until he discovered something about himself. He could change shape.”

Without any warning, a bunch of flashing yellow dots started appearing on Bulkhead’s arm. It was a signal that he was downloading something.

“Oh scrap.” He cussed, hoping that it wasn’t some kind of dangerous virus he very stupidly got affected with. The retired engineer opened his console and ran a test on himslef, waiting for the results.

“His second alt mode was a very beautiful Onehorn. He knew that the creature was called an Onehorn because he saw a lot of bots in the Crystal City having a smiliar one. That was the sign he needed. From then on he knew that he wasn’t an outcast or someone different from the rest, he was just like others. He was a Cybertronian. That moment gave him the courage he needed. Soon he returned to the city and started again. Not everyone was accepting at first, but soon he found new great friends. They were all different, but similiar at the same time. They got along very well and in the end of the day, Sparks was one of them. And he never before was as happy about that fact as ever. The end.” Megatron finished his story by coping Bumblebee’s dramatic bow.

“... That’s it?” Hot Rod asked.

“That is it, yes.” The rebel said, straightening up. “Did you like it?”

“That was... Shorter than I expected.” Moonracer added, scraching her back of the neck.

“That means you can make quicker judgement. So, which one’s better?”

“Bumblebee’s.”

“Sorry, Bumblebee’s” The youngling answered, making Bumblebee grin. “Your was okay, the message was decent, but...”

“It sounded like something taken from a sparkling’s fairytale datapad. A censored one at that.” Hot Rod explained. After some time Bulkhead noticed a new file popping on his screen, an icon of some sort. With a bit of hesitation, he clicked on it.

“Really? I thought it was quite charming when I first thought about it. Oh well, I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.” The rebel suddenly spotted something in the background. He noticed that Bulkhead was staring at his console as if he was troubled by something

“... Bulkhead?” The Decepticon called out, gaining the green mech’s attention. The rest of the group turned around as well. "What is that?"

“I have absolutely no idea.” Bulkhead said. They walked closer to ivenstigate. 

“It looks like a starting page.” Bumblebee said. “Although, a one I’ve never seen before.”

“A starting page?” Megatron whispered to Moonracer.

“To the global system.” She gave him a questioning look. “You’ve never heard of it before?”

“I did, but... You have access to that?”

“Everyone does.”

“Oh... Alright, good for you.”

“Are those links?” Hot Rod pointed at a bunch of squares present on the screen.

“I don’t know and we better not touch them. We don’t know what they conta-” Before the green mech finished, the red youngling clicked on the red square, opening some website.

“Hot Rod!” Bulkhead snached his arm away from him. Suddenly the group heard a sound coming from his console. The retired engineer lowered his arm again, a footage of some sort started playing.

“Is that...” Bumblebee narrowed his optics, leaning closer. “Music?”

‘Do you remember the 21th September?~’

“Oh Solus, it is! But something seems different about it.”

“The vocals sound so... weird.” Moonracer said.

“They’re pretty nice thought.” Megatron smiled, slightly nodding his head to the rythm.

‘Ba de ya, say do you remember? Ba de ya, dancing in September.~”

“Hold on.” Bulkhead suddenly interrupted, realizing something. The Decepticon stopped. “The lyrics. We can unerstand them!” The rest of the group caught up after a second. The retired engineer glanced at the video, it had lyrics written on it’s screen which contained the human language. Bumblebee couldn’t help but smile widely.

“Kids!” The yellow minibot said. “Do you have something to write with?”

“I- I have cyber pens!” Hot Rod said, pulling out a couple of cyber pens out of his subspace and giving them to Bulkhead

“Great! We now need something to write on!”

“I’ll bring the sheets!” Megatron said, heading to collect sheets from their living areas.

“Listen kids,” Bulkhead said. “I want you to bring everything you couldn’t previously understand but wanted to. Everything, that’s an order!”

“Roger!” The two of them said, rushing to their rooms. 

The retired engineer opened one of the cyberpens and shook it, making it activate and then played the song again.

They all started working and none of them even noticed when Ravage’s optics shined with green light and his jaw slowly widened. 

\-----

The automatic doors opened and the agent known as Miranda Dryder stepped in. She had a cup of coffee in one of her hands and a tone of papers under the arm. She sighed, taking a sip of the coffee as she headed to her office.

Those couple of days were still completely surreal to her. The arrival of giant robots able to transform into vehicles sounded like a plot from some terrible horror movie on it’s own, but the apparent fact that they came from space no less made many people question their own sanity, including herselves. Especially since she heard the order that she was the one responsible for them now. 

Miranda noticed that her co workers were looking at her weirdly. Not with sneer, or mockery, some seemed curious, some disbelieving, some maybe even concerned. She ignored all of them and tried to go on with her day.

She was about to open the door and enter her workroom when suddenly a few documents slipped out of her grasp and fell on the floor.

“Curses.” She whispered under her breath, ducking and picking them up. Unexpectedly someone handed one of the papers to her. The agent took it and was about to thank whoever helped her when she looked up and saw a figure of a blonde woman standing above her.

“Hello, Miranda.” The woman said in a seemingly frinedly tone, however the agent knew better than to trust it.

“Karen.” Miranda narrowed her eyes, standing up.

“I couldn’t help but overhear that you were finally given a promotion, is that right?” The woman named Karen crossed her arms and gave her a smug grin.

“This is a classified information, I’m afraid.”

“Oh please, why so formal? Just because I’m in higher position than you doesn’t mean you have to treat me any differently than before.”

Miranda let out a tired sigh and grabbed the doorknob of her office slightly opening the door. “Did you need something?”

“I just wanted to congratulate you. After all, not everyone is given a chance to work with artificial intelligence this advanced. I heard it helps people build their courage and develop more social skills.”

The agent was about to respond when suddenly she heard her phone ringing.

“Everything is alright with my courage and social skills. Now if you are quite done, I have work to do.” She didn’t wait for the answer. Agent Miranda walked inside and reached for her phone. Karen gave her one last glance before walking away.

“Hello?” She picked up and asked. To her confusion, no one answered. All she heard was... music? She couldn’t help but grimance.

“Hello?” She tried again. Suddenly a sound of crushing metal sounded in the distance. It was strangely specific and... **familiar.**

And finally, she heard a deep voice saying:

;Megatron, stop humming and help me out!;

Megatron? The agent placed her documents on the desk and reached for her tablet. She quickly opened her notes and to her horror, Megatron was one of the bots she was responsible for.

Another bangs could be heard in the background which were louder than the previous one.

“Oh no...” Miranda hung up and shoved all papers in her bag, running out of her office. Karen was walking towards her own workstation when she noticed Miranda exiting the building while making another call. The woman couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

\------

After Miranda hung up, Ravage’s jaw closed and his optics flickered back to life. The Minicon shook his head and unplugged his tail, transforming it back to normal.

“Well, that was an interesting experience.”

His audials twitched when he heard a bizarre sound coming from the distance. He stood up, jumped from the counter and saw Megatron along with the Autobots nearby doing... something.

“This one is m, this one is t...” There were three sheets Megatron and Bumblebee were pinning to the wall. One with Cybertronian translation of the chosen song’s lyrics, second with Cybertronian alphabet, and the third containing the original human text. Bulkhead was currently decoding the second one.

“A-l-m-o-n-d-s. Okay, this one is called ‘50 repices for dishes with almonds.’” Moonracer said, showing everyone a newly discovered cooking book.

“What’s an almonds?” Hot Rod turned around from his own books and asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m about to find out.” She said, opening it.

“What’s going on?” Ravage asked, stepping closer. The group froze.

“Hello Ravage!” Megatron cheerfully greeted him. “I’d wave, but my servos are currently occupied.”

“Hello Megatron.” The Cassette casually replied. “There is no need, I can’t wave you in the first place.”

“Ravage... Weren’t you supposed to make a call to our liaison?” Moonracer asked.

“I’m pretty sure I just did. Wait, you guys weren’t there to answer?”

Bulkhead looked down, then facepalmed so hard the sound echoed through the entire hangar, muffling his groan. Hot Rod took a glance at their work and narrowed his optics in cringe.

“Sooo, on a scale from one to an incoming alien invasion, how bad do you think they’re going to take it?...”

“... I’ll take care of the sheets.” Megatron stated. Everyone took a picture of the translated version of human language so the rebel could take the sheet and storm off with it. The green and yellow mechs helped the younglings collect books and cyber pens from the floor while Ravage, after getting a full grasp of the situation, followed Megatron to his room. The big cleaning begun.

\----

When agent Miranda arrived at the hangar, she quickly rushed to the stairs from the outside and entered the hangar, stepping on a platform above the ground. She glanced all over the place and noticed Hot Rod, Moonracer, Bulkhead and Bumblebee lying around, doing absolutely nothing.

“Oh, hi!” Moonracer sat down, noticing the arrival of their lliaison.

“What is going on here?!” The agent didn’t hesitate to raise her voice.

“What do you mean?” Hot Rod rose an optical ridge, looking around. “Everything seems pretty fine to me.”

She only frowned, raising up her phone. “Care to explain how you got my number?”

“It was yours?” Bulkhead sat down as well.

“I didn’t give anyone my permission to use it, so how in the world did you contact me with it?!”

“We just did. That’s strange.” Bulkhead pretended to be surprised. “You should definetly get that checked.”

“The sooner the better!” Hot Rod added.

Miranda didn’t seem to buy any of this. She glanced at each one of them with concerning silence until she asked.

“Where’s the rest?”

“Recharing.” Bulkhead, Moonracer and Hot Rod answered at once. 

“Dead.” The yellow scout said at the same time. The Speedsters tried their best not to glance at him. Their liaison gave them a look.

After a second she started walking down the platform to them and headed towards their rooms.

“Wait!” The younglings immeditaely stood up and tried to stop her.

“I meant recharging like dead!” Bumblebee tried to save the situation. “They’re as calm as one could say they’re dead!”

“You really don’t want to go there!” Hot Rod stood on her way.

“I certainly do.” She walked past him, heading to their living areas. Moonracer was next to try her luck.

“You’ll regret that!” She added. Unfortunately she was met with the same results.

“There is gross alien stuff happening there!”

“That will be only my fault then.”

“You’re going to have visions haunting you for the rest of your life!” Hot Rod warned.

“It’s really not worth it!”

“I’m going to take my chances, thank you very-...”

When she entered Megatron’s room she froze instantly. She saw two Decepticons rubbing their sheet walls against the floor. They were covered in some kind of colourful shining liquid that looked like paint, but smelled like gasoline. When Megatron and Ravage noticed her, they stopped.

The rest of the group felt chills when Miranda turned around and gave them all a side eye.

“... We can explain.” Bumblebee gave her a nervous smile.

 **“Good.”** She said in a low voice.


	5. Decepticons, Rise Up! part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile at the Nemesis

The Decepticons met on the bridge after a few days of complete silence. Not one of them spoke to one another ever since the terrible incident. Some of them felt very discouraged to listen to Starscream again at this point. 

When the group entered the bridge, Starscream turned around from the computer and gave all of them a smile.

“Hello everyone.” He greeted. “I’m glad to see you again.”

“This better be good, Starscream.” Slipstream said, crossing her arms. “I’m not in the mood for another idiotic plan.”

“In this case I’m sure you’ll like what I’m about to say.” Starscream looked very certain of himself. "My plan... Is not having any plan at all."

The Decepticons were caught off guard.

"... What?" Breakdown asked.

"Planning ahead is such a waste of time.” Starscream shook his head, losing his mighty posture. ”Look at me, planning to take over the Decepticons for 5 million years and everything literally blowing back at my face. This is why this time I’m doing things differently.”

“I really fail to see how this should affects any of us.” Slipstream still looked disinterested. Starscream leaned against the console and activated the computer’s screen. There was this powerplant advertisement again, among other commercials and locations. Starscream extended his servos and pictures of two buildings appeaered on his consoles. The group studied them, recognising them as laboratories and similiar science facilities.

“As you can see, residents of this planet are able to think and develop. Their technology is quite primitive, but definetly not useless. Think of it as a discount mine of unfinished projects and ideas waiting for an upgrade. And if humans won’t be the ones to give it, I’ll gladly take that responsibility from them.” After a second Starscream hid the projections and straightened up. “I want to give you my last offer. You can turn it off, I’m not going to hold a grudge against you. I know Shockwave is already in.” Starscream gestured at Shockwave. 

“We are going to see what this planet has to offer. Every resource, every technological improvement, every possible option, and **then** find a way to return to Cybertron.”

“You want to stay here?” Batrat, who was sitting on Soundwave’s left shoulder, asked. Soundwave didn’t say a word throughout the entire meeting. 

“I do. This is why you’re free to go. I’m sure you’ll find a way to get off this planet and return to Cybertron sooner than I will.”

“Wait,” Barricade interrupted. “you’re... you’re abandoning us?”

“No. I’m giving you a way out. What I’m going to do is one hundread percent a selfish act from my side and I’m done pretending that it’s something more than that. No more promises, no more good of the faction, no more Megatron. I’ll do it, because I want to. Also, I feel like it’ll be so much easier to steal a bunch of junk here than on Cybertron. Considering if they’d let me do as much as land on the planet’s surface without locking me away in the Alchemor again that is. This is something worth considering, wouldn’t you agree?”

The group looked somewhat angered, but was silent. The flier had a very good point. After some time, Starscream moved away from the console and headed to the exit, making the Decepticons step back to make him a path.

“This is all I wanted to say. I’m in the middle of preparations, so if anyone was interested I’ll be around. If this is the last time we’re seeing each other, I hope you’ll have a good life.” 

Shockwave disappeared shortly after, leaving the rest with their own decision to make.

\-----

“Hey Soundwave!” Breakdown caught Soundwave while he was walking with his Minicons down the hall. Soundwave turned around and faced him.

“Do you have a click?”

:Actually, I don’t feel like talkin-:

“Great! Listen, I wanted to ask about Megatron.” Breakdown said. Soundwave sighed and decided to walk away, trying to ignore him. Breakdown however had other plans. He followed Soundwave in hope to get his questions answered.

“So we know that he’s alive, right? And Starsream doesn’t seem too kin to talk to him for whatever reason. Do you think there was some kind of misunderstanding between them?”

Soundwave didn’t reply, he just continued on his way. Rumble and Frenzy glared at the other mech as they walked.

“I’ve been thinking lately. What if, and bear with me, instead of killing him off, we convinced him to join us and apologise to Starscream? I know, that sounds crazy, but I think it’s going to benefit us more!”

::Are we supposed to say something?:: Laserbeak asked telepathically.

::Ignore him.:: Soundwave replied. ::He’ll get bored and find someone else to bother eventually.::

“And maybe we’ll do the same with Wrecker while we’re at it!”

:Bulkhead.:

“What?”

:His name is Bulkhead.:

“Details details. So anyway, I decided to stay too and try to bring Megatron back. I think you should stay too! Starscream has a point, we have all those benefits of staying. Plus, you get to spend more time with me, doesn’t that sound great?”

Thankfully Soundwave reached a room he fixed not that long ago and claimed as his own soon enough. Laserbeak and Batrat flew away from his shoulders while Rumble and Frienzy left his side, heading deeper down the ship.

“Bye Soundwave!” Batrat waved to him goodbye. His carrier returned the gesture as he stepped into his quarters. Breakdown seemed confused by that.

“Where are they going? Your room is here.”

:They have seperate ones.: Soundwave replied tiredly, tapping the console and closing the door, finally separating the one eyed mech from him.

“... Soooo, you’re in?” Breakdown asked, awkwardly standing in front of Soundwave’s door. “It’s alright if you need some time to think, I’ll be waiting for you.”

\-----

Shockwave decided to go on a walk around the surface. Thankfully he didn’t encounter any humans around. The area he found himself in was green and blooming with organic wildlife. He was taking notes on his surroundings when suddenly he heard a very strange sound.

Shockwave looked around. His scanners picked up a small, water filled lake nearby. The scientist headed towards it, kneeling behind a bunch of bushes. On the lake’s bank was placed a nest around which were standing a couple of organic lifeforms. They somewhat resembled Laserbeak from their appearance. Two grown individuals and a bunch of small ones.

The older creatures were making quite obnoxious yet fascinating sounds and the smaller ones seemed obedient to it. It looked like caretakers navigating their sparklings. 

Suddenly the Laserbeak resembling creatures started heading away and their youths followed, leaving their safe spot behind. Shockwave waited for them to get further so he could study it closer. When they were gone, he moved closer and picked the nest up, bringing it to his optic level. It was made out of sticks and soft materials. Juding by his surroundings, they could’ve been found around the area he was currently in. He guessed that they served a heating purpose.

Another interesting thing about it were shells, the nest was filled with them. Shockwave quickly counted them, there were eight shells in total. Those must’ve been what was left after the chatchlings. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t gain many informations from them. 

After some time, he noticed something lying on the green flooring beneath him. It was a small object which was being covered by the nest until now. It was an egg, but not in the form of shells like the other ones. The scientist found a still hatching organism. He ducked to take a better look at it, then decided to give it a gentle poke. It didn’t seem quite dead yet.

Shockwave glanced at the nest and then back at an egg, letting out a quiet wondering hum.

\-----

Barricade was standing in front of the medbay’s window. Breakdown wasn’t currently in it so he was allowed to be around. He was observing the ocean’s floor, catching from time to time a glimpse of his reflection which he quickly was turning away from. 

The ex enforcer looked down, noticing that his servo was corrupted again. He didn’t remember when it changed nor for how long it remained in this form already. At this point it was just there, leaving a sick feeling in his spark. 

Suddenly he heard a sound of groundbridge behind him. He turned around and noticed Shockwave’s arrival.

Shockwave returned to the Nemesis carrying a bunch of junk he found on some scrapyard and the organic nest containing the found egg. Without saying a word, he placed the nest on the table, lying out the rubble around it.

Barricade grimanced. The scientist just came to someone else’s room like it was his own and made a huge mess. He wanted to leave, but when he noticed that Shockwave opened his subspace and pulled out a scanner, he couldn’t help but stay and observe what he was doing. Shockwave disattached his claw and put a weird looking tool on it’s place.

“What is that?” Barricade glanced at the nest. His worry won over and he decided to ask.

“An incubating life form.” Shockwave replied, scanning the egg. “It was abandoned by it’s caretakers.”

“Abandoned, or left for some time?”

“It doesn’t matter now.” The scientist replied calmly, making Barricade frown.

“What are you going to do with it then? I don’t believe you decided to bring it here only to help it hatch.”

“Study. Observe. Influence.” Shockwave claimed. “Decide if it has big chances of survival. If it’s strong enough to last a couple of my tests, I’m going to help it finish the developing process.”

“... And if it’s not?”

“It’ll die. Either way, I’ll get a certain knowledge out of it.” There was something in his response that made Barricade’s Energon boil in his lines.

“How...” Barricade suddenly hissed, walking towards the other mech, alarming him. “How can you speak so casually of anothers’ life as some kind of... **experiment?”**

“There is no need to share any sentiments. The species isn’t sentient. They’re animals.”

“What about others then?!” Barricade barked, smashing his claw against the table making, it tremble. Small lines appeared on the side of his jaw, signaling that something bad was about to happen. “Are your other victims animals too?! Am **I** an animal to you?!”

“... No.” Shockwave stared at him in the optics. He noticed that they were growing more bloodlust with every second. “You are not an animal. You are a casualty that could’ve been easily prevented.”

Barricade lost it. His jaw ripped apart, revealing deformed fragments of his infection. He let out a metallic roar as he tried to launch himself at Shockwave who jumped back, opening his subspace and reaching for his shoulder canon. He didn’t even have time to install it, he held it up and charged it in order to scare the furious beast off. It didn’t work and Barricade jumped at him, snatching the weapon away. 

Shockwave held him back in order to push him off, but the other’s strenght increased. Barricade was about to sink his claws into Shockwave when suddenly he felt someone’s servo grabbing his wrist. Moments later something catched him from behind and tried to push him away from the scientist. The scientist managed to crawl away from him.

Barricade fought back. He was struggling in the grip which only tightened while Shockwave reached to his subspace and pulled something out

“Now, Shockwave!” It was Starscream. He gave a command and the scientist went closer. Barricade noticed that he had a quill in his servo. The ex enforcer roared at him and tried to bite the arms that held him hostage, but Starscream forcefully turned his head away, letting Shockwave give him the antidote. 

The grip was losening and Barricade was about to break free when suddenly he felt a soft sting on his arm. His anger started fading and his conciousness returned to him shortly after. Claws turned back to normal the extended jaw hid itself. Starscream catched Barricade before he slipped out of his grip, moving him away from the medbay. Thankfully (or not), Shockwave seemed unharmed.

Starscream dragged Barricade outside, dropping him on the hallway while the black and white mech panted. He sat on his back, facing the flier who looked seriously livid.

"What do you think you were doing, Barricade?!" He asked, not hesitating to hide his tone. 

"He provoked me!" Barricade responded almost hysterically. "I swear he provoked me!"

"And you let him provoke you, because...?” Starscream leaned closer to him, making him feel smaller. Barricade wanted to respond, but ended up looking away. The flier straighened back up. “You are lucky that we have the antidote, but this kind of behaviour is not going to be tolerated in the future. Do you understand?”

“... Yes.” The ex enforcer whispered. 

“Good.” Starscream said. “For the good of everyone on this ship, it’s going to be better if you’ll stay away from Shockwave for now. Is that clear?”

“Yes...”

“I didn’t hear it.”

“Yes, Primus! What do you want from me?!”

“I want you to stop constantly failing me and be useful for once!”

That got him to shut up. When Starscream sensed his victory he gave him one last glance before walking to the medbay, leaving Barricade outside. The black and white mech didn’t feel like standing up at all. He rose his servos up to examine them quickly at then dropped them on his faceplates, letting out a shaky ex vent. 

“I hate this place...”

\-----

“Shockwave,” When Starscream entered, he walked to Shockwave to determin if Breakdown’s assistance was needed. “are you alright?”

“Positive.” The scientist confirmed, putting his claw back on and making sure that his arm wasn’t damaged. “It was a small misunderstanding, there is no need to drag it more than it had been already.”

“In that case this leaves me with a question I was originally going to ask you. Have you seen Slipstream?”

Shockwave nodded. “Not that long ago she asked me to take her somewhere else.”

“Do you think you can take me to her?”

Shockwave stared at him for a brief moment before nodding again.

\-----

The portal opened and Starscream stepped out of it. He found himself on a desert like wasteland with no faun whatsoever with a few small green exceptions. He looked around and noticed Slipstream sitting on one of the cliffs nearby.

Satrscream activated his jetpack and flew to her. She didn't seem to notice the other Decepticon's arrival, or perhaps she did but didn't say anything. Either way, she didn't react until Starscream found himself standing next to her.

Slipstream was looking at a gas station in the distance. It must've been ancient, the sand was covering it from the top to the bottom and rusty walls were barely keeping the construction together. 

"You're following me on purpose?" Slipstream said, making Starscream blink in surprise.

"I just came here to admire the scenery." He replied, looking at the horizon.

"Really?" Slipstream snorted. "Do you like what you're seeing then?"

"Everything looks good after almost five million years in the Alchemor if I’m being honest."

"Well, at least one of us is satisfied." She let out an annoyed huff. "I hate this fragging place and everything associated with it."

Starscream couldn't help but glance at her.

"You sound longing."

"Why do you care?" The fembot gave him a sneer. "Let me guess, you’ll give me a speech about everything being fine as long as we’re together? That's what you do, right? You gather lost and broken sparks and give them new purpose in life, just like our good ‘deceased’ leader did."

Starscream decided to sit down, finally making optic contact with her. 

"Let's focus on other things for now."

She grew silent, then turned back to the abandoned gas station. 

“Other things, huh? Okay then, let me ask a few questions then. Starting with, why did you decide to betray Megatron?"

"Jealousy? Anger, perhaps? I like to think of it as a desire for something more. I apologise for not telling you that earlier, I know you all felt connected to him."

"Honestly? I couldn't care less for the big sap. He was there, then he wasn't, Sentinel got his way anyway. In the end we were captured. I should’ve seen it coming. Honestly, I propably should've just walked away when I had the chance, but in my defence, back then I didn't know I'd never return to Altihex ever again."

Starscream couldn't help but give her a questioning look.

"You're from Altihex?"

"Not every flier comes from Vos, your majesty." She snarked, although she didn't seem to be in the mood for mockery. "It was a nice city. Chaotic, corrupted, but nice. When I left it, I had no idea how much I'd miss it. I missed the freedom it provided me. Not even the rebelion gave me the same feeling. Always had to watch my steps and take care of others, because ‘if you fell, everyone was falling with you’, and all that lovey dovey unity slag." Starscream chukled as Slipstream spun her digit around, trying to mimick Megatron's tone. After a second she sighed, supporting her head with her servo. 

"You know, if I had a chance, I think I'd shoot Megatron myself for making me believe that everything I had to tolerate was worth it. In the end he was as much of a liar as you."

The mech couldn't help but fall silent, then he turned his head away from her. 

"... I don't want to be like Megatron." He admitted. "I believe there is something better for me out there than being just his successor. He abandoned us. If Shockwave didn't got in the way he propably would have just run away and never come back. I want to be better than him."

Slipstream's smirk grew on her faceplates as the other flier stood up. "Oh. Did we got to the recruiting part already?”

"It seems like it." He didn't even hide his intentions. 

"That was fast. But you know what? What the slag. Not that there is something better for me out there now, so congratulations to you. Did you plan to bring us on this peasant planet so we’d have a few options left and join you anyway?”

“No. Those are barely the circumstances I wanted.”

“If you say so. Listen. I’m going to join you...” She stood up as well, crossing her arms with a grin. “but you'll have to answer the rest of my questions first. The only condition, I have to like them."

"I'm listening."

"First of all, what's with the sudden change of character?"

"Keeping high tone is exhausting, so is coming up with big speeches. I can't bother myself to make those everytime I'm speaking with someone. Besides, I propably didn't showed that before, but I trust you. Having high tone is benefiting only when trying to convince someone you barely know, who looks like they'd be easy to convince. Each one of you is a part of my crew, ex or not. You deserve my honesty more than anyone else."

"Mhm. Alright, let's say I believe that. Another question, how difficult was to convince others to stay?"

"It was rather easy, actually. Shockwave is willing to stay, Barricade owes me, Breakdown doesn't need any convincing, and I’m not going to lose much if Soundwave will decide to leave."

“That’s a lie.”

“It is, but that’s going to be my problem to worry about.”

"You are a real working mech, aren’t you Screamer?” She rose her optical ridge. Starscream just shrugged.

“Any other questions you want me to answer?”

“Yes. How do you actually plan to return to Cybertron after you’re done here?”

“Do you want my honest opinion?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know. Maybe the answer is going to find itself on the way, maybe not. I don’t plan on returning anytime soon, especially since I’m certain the accident is still actual. The last thing I need is my picture on every billboard around the planet at the same time I’m walking on the streets.”

“So, waiting for the fire to cool down. Quite cowardly if you ask me.”

“Strategically wise, actually.”

“Whatever. Alright, the last question. You’ll answer it, and I’m in. How are you going to convince **me**? What can you offer me to make me stay? And I swear, if you’re going to present another bright future vision, I’ll knock you out." She pointed her digit at him with daring expression.

"Oh no, don’t worry.” He assured. “That certainly doesn't work.”

Starscream brought his digit to his chin, thinking. 

“... But what if I gave you the freedom you were missing all this time?"

“Oh?” Slipstream rose an opical ridge at him.

"When was the last time you did something for yourself? Caring for others must’ve be completely exhausting, especially since you were denied many things because of it. Let me make it clear." Starscream extended his servo towards her. Slisptream gave it a quick glance before focusing back at him.

"From now on, no more doing things for the sake of outsiders. The new Decepticons are one hundread percent about themselves and no one else. This planet doesn't hold any limits to us. We can do whatever we want and we don’t have to face any consequences for it. If you’ll join me, I’ll make sure that things will stay this way."

Sliptream had to admit, she kind of started thinking about it. She needed some good evidence though. The pilot turned to the old rust station in the distance and she had an idea. A desire, actually.

"Anything, you say?" She asked, grinning.

Starscream followed her gaze and understood what she was trying to ask about. 

"Anything." He nodded, gesturing and giving her permission. Slipstream smirked. Her arm transformed into a gun and she shot at the gas station. She hit one of the gas tanks which exploded, making a chain reaction and soon the whole building was swallowed by flames. The gas station was gone, the only thing left after it was a gigantic explosion and a huge cloud of sand slowly spreading around the wasteland.

“Does that mean you’re in?” Starscream smirked as well, tilting his head. After that Slipstream's servo returned back to normal and she accepted Starscream's, chukling. 

“Let’s call it a trial period for now.”


	6. A Simple Matter Of Words part 4

"It's really not what it looks like!"

“Like what exacly?”

“W-we don’t know, that’s why we didn’t want you to see it!”

“Hot Rod.” Bulkhead put his servo on Hot Rod’s shoulder.

Miranda returned on the platform. She had her arms crossed as she tried to figure out what the robots were trying to hide from her.

“Worrying phone call, your nervous behavious, and me catching you quite literally red handed.”

“That’s supposed to mean something?” Megatron asked, then folded his covered in paint servos behind his back.

“Give me one good reason why I should believe you and not call authorities this very second.”

Hot Rod and Moonracer looked down in shame. Bulkhead noticed that and frowned.

“How about this,” He stepped closer. “you’ll stop threatening us with authorities and we won’t tell them that you refused to do your job.”

“Beg your pardon?” 

“We’ll be delighted to forget about the whole incident as soon as you’ll keep your promise and get us the fuel.”

“The fuel was delivered before the morning! I got a message from the delivery!-”

“You gave us a bunch of barrels of useless toxic waste we can’t consume!”

“Yeah, you guys did.”

“That was mean. Mean and pretty rude.” Ravage and Megatron each gave a nod, backing Bulkhead up.

“That call was supposed to inform you about that problem, but surprise surpise, you gave us the most useless communicator possible! It literally broke after Bumblebee touched it!”

“I still have it's pieces between my digit.” Bumblebee said and rose his digit up.

“So we had no other choice but to improvise! And what you saw today was us trying to figure out what in the fresh slag is going on because no one else was going to! So in the end of the day, who’s truly at fault here? Us, for trying to adjust to the current situation, or you all, for being terrible planet hosts?”

Suddenly Miranda slammed her hands on the platform’s barriers, making it tremble. She looked like she was about to lose it.

Hot Rod and Moonracer felt their sparks stopping. Slowly, they stepped back and found shelter behind Bumblebee. After a few seconds, the agent took a deep breath and then let out a big sigh.

“Alright.” She said. “Let’s do it your way.”

Miranda turned around and picked up something from the floor. She opened a white plastic garden table and a chair and sat down. She started unpacking her stuff from her bag and placing it on the table.

“What are you doing?” Bulkhead asked.

“I’m going to stay here and do both of my jobs. Fill documents, and make sure you’re not causing any more problems since apparently I'm so bad at doing it.”

“And the fuel?”

“One thing at a time, mr manager. I need to let our sponsors know that they need to find something else for you, then it’s going to be only a matter of time. Anything else you wanted to bother me with?”

“Actually,” Ravage said but was quickly cut off.

“Great! Go make a list." Miranda said, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. The Minicon couldn’t help but let out a growl.

\-----

“...What is that?” Miranda asked, narrowing her eyes

“Our list!” Megatron replied, gesturing at the sheet Bulkhead was holding. It was covered with symbols Miranda never saw before in her life. “Here are all the things we need for now.”

“I can see that, but... What kind of language is that?”

“Cybertronian language!” Ravage replied, grinning.

“I understand literally nothing of it.”

“Now you know how that feels.” Bulkhead murmured.

“What?” Miranda asked.

“What?” Bulkhead replied.

“... Sure, of course. How about you’ll read it out loud so I can copy it?” She said, pulling out her tablet. “You know, so it can be more convenient for humans.”

“Of course!” Megatron said, turning to the list and starting reading it. “One extra room, more convinient devices to work with, paint.”

“Why in the world would you need paint?” She was writing that down, but she couldn’t help but wonder why a giant robot would need paint of all things.

“Private purposes.” He stated. “Extra repairing tools, an Earth dictionary, and... Ravage, I can’t make up of what you wrote.” He turned to the Minicon.

“Oh yeah.” Ravage faced their liaison. “I want a hat.”

She looked up. “... A hat?”

“Yeah. A blue hat and two pairs of slippers.”

Miranda stared at him.

“Copper slippers would be nice.”

“A... and what kind of hat do you want?” Miranda asked, voice dying a little bit in her throat.

“The one that’s going to fit on my head obviously.”

“No, that’s...” She sighed and just went with it. “A blue hat and two pairs of copper slippers... Size plus XXXL.”

“They have to be new. I hate wearing things after other people.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. So those things-"

“And a buffer." Bulkhead added.

“And a buffer.” She repeated and wrote that down. “Now, for the matter of different fuel.” She tapped her screen a couple of times and turned it towards the Cybertronians. “I was asked what kind would you rather prefer.”

Bulkhead placed their sheet on the floor and scanned the tablet with his optics, which was another weird thing Miranda witnessed by now to add to the list.

The retired engineer turned around and opened his console, showing it to the other mechs. Then after some time turned back to her and said:

“We need more time to choose. We’ll give you an answer later.”

“I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, so by all means, take your time.”

Bulkhead closed his console and the group retreated to their living spaces, leaving her on the platform. She sat down and started her other work.

\-----

Miranda finally finished her paperwork. All what she had to do left was writng a report and resolve the fuel situation. The robots were still making up their mind so it was propably going to take a longer while.

Miranda decided to listen to the music while she was waiting. She turned on her laptop and searched for some decent playlists. When she found one, she opened it and reached to her bag to take out a pair of earphones.

Moonracer heard the nearby sound and decideed to investigate it. She left her room and followed the sound’s source only to be led back to the platform. Miranda noticed her approaching almost immediately.

“Is that your planet’s music?” Moonracer asked, pointing up. Miranda half expected to be mocked, but the question was asked in such child like wonder and curiosity she couldn’t really consier it harmful in any way.

“Y... Yes?” She replied, turning to her. “Why?”

“I’ve never heard anything like it before. It’s really nice.”

“You’ve never heard Jazz before?”

“Is that what it’s called? Jazz? It’s a pretty funny sound, Jaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzz...” Moonracer stopped when she noticed that Miranda wasn’t as amused as she was. “... No, I didn’t. We don’t have that one on our planet.”

“Hold on.” Moonracer successfully managed to distract Miranda from her waiting. “You have your own music back where you came from?”

“Well, yeah.” The sea green Speedster shrugged. “It’s not really popular because we don’t have that much to choose from. There are no vocals and it's way more metallic sounding. The genre is one, but tones can be different. They are either very energetic, very calming, or something in between."

“That sounds pretty sad.”

“Maybe, but I love it anyway.” Moonracer grew silent, patiently listening to the lyrics.

Miranda in all honesty didn’t expect any of the robots to find interest in something like music. The whole conversation itself was such a bizarre experience. Sure she spoke to those machines a few times by now, but this time seemed different. Instead of shouting and demanding, this robot was actually paying attention to her surroundings and willing to share something about her own culture.

The fact that giant robots from space had a civilization on it’s own was such an alien concept, but apparently this was the reality they were living in now.

“What instruments are being used?” Moonracer asked.

After a moment of consideration, Miranda turned back to her laptop and started searching for something on it. When she found it, she picked it up and turned back to Moonracer.

“This is a contrabass.” She said and showed her a picture of one of the instruments.

“What sounds does it make?”

“It sounds like, hm...” Miranda made a few clicks and opened a video of a man playing on a contabass. Moonracer chuckled.

“Wow, this thing is bigger than your entire body!” Miranda let out a small amused snort.

“Perhaps. It definetly requires a lot of patience and practice to play on.”

She opened another browsing window, showing a video of another instrument.

“This is a saxophone.” She said. Moonracer let out a small amazed gasp.

“I love that one! It sounds a bit like metal pipes!”

“Metal pipes?” Miranda rose her eyebrow. “You mean like the Scottish ones, but metal?”

“I have no idea what that is, but this instrument even resembles it a bit! Except that metal pipes have a few extra holes down it’s lenght and it’s end is bigger and flatter. Springer used to play on one during some small celebrations around our area.”

The agent paused for a second.

“Who’s Springer?”

“He’s a... a friend.” There was a little stutter in her voice. “Back on, you know, our planet. Cybertron. You’d like him, or maybe not. He’s really funny and nice, but some people think he’s annoying. Those people are stupid. He and Arcee went on a business trip a while ago and... they should be back soon...”

Miranda noticed that there was a change in Moonracer’s tone. She seemed saddened after mentioning her friends. The agent found herself lost of words. She didn’t exacly know how to respond to that confession, so she decided to change the topic. 

“Do you... want to listen to different genres of music now? Personally I’m a big fan of Blues.”

“... Yeah.” After a second Moonracer looked up and gave her a smile which surprised and calmed Miranda at the same time. “I’d love that.”

\------

“Hey, uh... Ma’am? Excuse me?” Miranda paused her music and stood up from her seat, walking towards the platform’s edge. Hot Rod was standing under it, holding up his holographic console in his servos.

“Bulkhead told me to give you that.” He said.

“Finally.” Miranda reached for her tablet from her bag and took a picture of it, then turned around and started typing on it. She felt relieved that this case was slowly coming to an end.

“Do you have more datapads like that?” Hot Rod suddenly asked. Miranda stopped whatever she was typing and turned to him.

“More what?”

“Datapads. You know, the thing you use for your notes and stuff. You’re holding one right now.”

Miranda rose her tablet and gave it a look.

“Yeah, that one. Ours are more colourful and, well,” He slightly spread his arms wider in the air. “bigger.”

“In this world we call them ‘tablets’. And no, I don’t have any more of those. It’s my work tool and it’s much more expensive than books.”

“Because you’re an organic species?” Hot Rod asked.

“Because it’s just is and I can’t do much about it.” She frowned. Hot Rod realized that this was propably more rude than he intended it to sound.

“Right. I’m sorry.” He said, dropping his spoiler. That caught Miranda off guard. She decided to awkwardly turn back to her device and continue typing on it.

“... On the side note, why didn’t you like the previous fuel we gave you?”

Hot Rod looked back up at her.

“We’re not really allowed to drink it.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, engex is pretty toxic. Not everyone is allowed to use it.”

“Engex? Is that what you call it?”

“Yeah. It contains stuff that could even kill a bot. ”

“Oh... That’s understandable then. I’ll make sure to remember that in the future.”

Hot Rod nodded, then thought of something.

“... Hey, uh... Ma’am? Can I ask you something?”

Miranda turned her attention to him once again.

“Yes?”

“... Do you think we’re going to stay here forever?” That also caught her off guard, even more than the previous question.

“... No.” She replied, lowering her tablet. “I’m sure you’re not going to stay here forever.”

“You don’t mean that in a ‘we’re going to kill you sooner’ way, right? Because that’s not comforting at all.”

“Wh-no.” She shook her head. “We’re not going to kill you. What kind of silly idea is that?”

“I’ve heard of urban legends where that happened. Quintessons return to Cybertron and kidnap a bunch of Cybertronians for creepy experiments. There are broadcasts with those who survived an encounter with them and everything, I even personally know a bot who survived that encounter.”

“You have your own music **and** urban legends?”

“Yeah. Many of them. Like the lost city of Nyon or the Scraplet King. Do you have any urban legends?”

“Yes, but... No, we’re not going to do any of that. You’re not here to be made experiments on. It’s for safety purposes.”

“Safety of humans. I know...”

Miranda didn’t want to reply to that. Not when Hot Rod was looking at her like that. His faceplates didn’t seem like it, but his optics looked so hurt it made her uncomfortable for some reason. Thankfully a loud ping from her tablet saved her.

“Oh, that’s the sponsor!” She immediately looked down and checked. “I have to answer.” 

“Okay. Oh, before you go, I didn’t have a chance to put my request on the list. Can I tell you it now?”

“Go ahead.”

“Can you tell all the people I scared that I’m sorry? I really didn’t mean to, I just wanted to help.” She could tell that he was being nothing but geniuent.

“I... I can’t promise anything. Your inentions might have been good, but they led to more bad than good at the end of the day.” Miranda said.

“I know...” He regretfully looked away.

“... I’ll try, but again, don’t expect much.”

“That’s okay. Thanks anyway, I’m glad we had this talk.”

“... I’m glad too.” The agent nodded, turning around. She heard heavy metal footsteps getting futher away from her.

She had absolutely no idea what just happened, but she knew for sure that it was going to continue and she wouldn’t like it at all.

\-----

Another few hours passed and Miranda finally got everything done. Her report was finished, the new fuel was on it’s way, and her stressful day was finally coming to an end.

Miranda looked out of the hangar’s window. It was getting pretty late. She started packing her stuff when suddenly she heard a strange metal clanking coming from nearby.

She stopped her packing, looking around. Two giant shadows were dancing on the wall behind a corner which was covered by the sheet walls.

Miranda glanced at her work and then back at the shadows. She wanted to leave, but she knew she had to make sure that everything was in order before she did. She just had to check this one last thing and she was free to go. The agent walked down the stairs and headed towards the shadows.

“Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.”

Miranda peeked from the corner and noticed Hot Rod and Moonracer. The red mech looked like he was holding his breath while the sea green fembot was sitting on the floor and counting.

“Eighteen. Nineteen. Aaaaaaaand, twenty!” When Moonracer counted to twenty, Hot Rod unlocked his vents and took a deep in vent.

“Did it work?” He asked.

“According to the myth you were supposed to start shining, so I guess that’s a bust.” She said, standing up and walking to him.

“Maybe it’s supposed to be metaphorically.” He said, looking at his servos. “Maybe I’m brighter with the ancients’ knowledge or something.”

“Do you feel any brighter?”

“Not really. I don’t feel anything to be honest.” He placed his servo on his spark chamber, turning to her. “Sometimes I forget it’s even there.”

“It’s good at camouflage I guess, I can respect that.” She hummed, thinking. “There was this one myth that said it could transform any objects into powerful weapons.” Moonracer said. Hot Rod reached behind his back and pulled out his bow which activated in his servo. It looked just like it usually did.

“No, I don’t think it works.”

“Myth busted. What else was in the archives?”

“Once I heard that one of the Primes changed their colors after using it.”

“Let’s try then.”

Hot Rod ex vented, closing his optics and trying to focus.

“Oh my Primus!” Moonracer suddenly gasped, widening her optics. “Hot Rod, you’re purple!”

 **“What?!”** Hot Rod squeaked, quickly opening his optics back. He looked down at his frame which was still red, then glanced at Moonracer who was trying to hide her giggle. Hot Rod felt embarrased.

“You do realize I have a bow in my servo, right?”

“I’d like to see you try shooting me without ammo.”

“Who needs that when I have the power of our ancestors on my side!” Hot Rod grinned, aiming his bow at her and pretending to strech it’s strings.

“Whoosh! You’re mentally burned to a crisp!” Moonracer snorted.

“Oh yeah?” She grinned too, holding up her arms, pretending to hold something with two servos. “In that case you’re about to get split into two!” Moonracer made a motion of slashing the air before her.

“Swoosh! Your have two sparks now!”

“Not so fast!” Hot Rod held his arm up in a defensive manner. “My shield blocked your attack! Now I’m ready to pull out my Axe of Destiny and finish you!”

“Not if my giant Lizardhead can help it!” Moonracer said dramatically, raising her servo up.

“That’s cheating, you can’t get a Lizardhead in one to one battle!” Hot Rod said.

“This is the real life, son! Cheating is the meaning of it!”

“Oh yeah, well, let’s see what my stampede of Onehorns has to say about it!”

Miranda watched the two giant robots shouting at each other, pretending to fight. Their playfulness and dynamic was enough to make her wonder about something she didn’t really consider before.

Hot Rod and Moonracer were... children. That would certainly explain their behavious, but... Could that even be possible? The idea alone was nightmarefuel, but in realistic window it gave her even more questions that needed to be answered.

Miranda left as quietly as possible and started heading back. Her head was full of thoughts now.

Were Hot Rod and Moonracer the same as human children? How old even were they? Were there more children she should be aware of? How should she talk to them from now on knowing that information? 

She couldn’t deny it any longer, she seriously needed help. She was alone with this and that day already showed her that this work wasn’t going to be as easy as watching over a couple of highly advanced robots. Those machines were sentient and fully aware as much as humans were and they knew what was happening around them. Especially these two.

Miranda stopped, then turned to her side. She was looking at one of the robot’s rooms. Suddenly, she had an idea. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she felt like it was going to make things easier eventually. If she managed to make it work that is. Still, it was possibly her only shot.

\-----

The agent hesitantly entered the room. She looked around and saw a big green car standing in the middle of it. Miranda found some courage in herself to step in and clear her throat.

“Bulkhead, was it?”

“Did you get the message?” Suddenly a voice could be heard from the car. She was about to talk to a car, how lovely.

“Yes, the request has been sent. You’ll get your fuel soon.”

“Good. Trying to translate it was a torture.”

“I can only imagine that. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to ask you a few questions, they’re important.”

“For who?”

“For me. For you. For our current situation.”

Bulkhead grew silent. Miranda expected to be dismissed before he spoke again.

“What are these questions?” 

That was a huge relief.

"You're the one who's in charge within your group, right?" She asked.

"I'm not." Bulkhead said. "But Hot Rod and Moonracer are currently under my protection."

"So my speculations are true." Miranda murmured. "They're children, aren’t they?"

"You thought they weren't?"

"I..." She paused and sighed. "Nevermind that. I was wondering if perhaps you’d like to talk about what happened this morning. I noticed that our terms were rather tense-”

“My congratulations, your perceptive skills are flawless.”

"Will you stop being like this while I’m trying to have a civil conversation with you?” Miranda frowned, finally losing her temper. Suddenly she heard a click and then the car before her started changing it’s shape. It became bigger and soon turned into a giant bulky robot. She took a step back, hoping not to get in the way of the transforming process.

“And why should I?” Bulkhead leaned closer to her, grunting his denta. “You imprisoned us here and left us completely unsupervised!”

“Let me remind you that you were the ones who attacked us in the first place!” She shouted back, pointing her finger at him. “Ever since the London situation you’ve been nothing but a threat so we did what we had to do!”

“First of all, that wasn’t us, second of all, we attacked you first?! That’s rich, if I remember correctly you were the ones who tried to shoot at a kid and kept throwing nets at him!”

“He was threatening people with a weapon! He- oh, for crying out loud." She groaned, massaging her temples. "This isn't going anywhere. Listen. I can understand why you don’t trust me, it’s the same reason I don’t trust you. Just a few days ago a city was attacked by something we weren’t familiar with before, something that **might** still be a threat to us. My job is to see what I can do to avoid an even bigger catastrophy by finding a compromise between us. We haven’t reached that compromise yet which is partly my fault too, but...” She paused and then looked up.

“I just want to understand you. I want to know for sure that you’re not a threat. That way we can work better and avoid situautions like today’s morning at best and the worst like the one a few days ago.”

Bulkhead looked away from her for a second, muttering.

“Help me help you. I’m going to help you find yourselves in this world, but I need you to help me understand your perspective as well. Whatever I’m going to learn in here is going to stay in here, but I need you to at least try. We don’t have to like each other by all means of course, but this may be your one and only chance to redeem yourselves in the eyes of our planet.“

Bulkhead was looking down, expression thoughtful.

“Let me ask you again, will you at least try?”

After some time he turned his attention back to her and said:

“... If it was for me alone, I’d tell you to frag off and never speak to me again, just to be clear. But for the rest, for the kids, I’m willing to try. And I don’t want to become any tool of your kind because of that.“

“In that case I believe we have an agreement.” She reached her arm towards him in order to shake his servo, but realized shortly after that it was way too big for her. She was horrified, but the green mech looked like he was going to straight up panic. Miranda was about to pull back when Bulkhead brought his digit close to her hand. She slowly moved it to touch it’s tip and gave it a little symbolic shake.

“So,” Bulkhead asked. “where should we start?”

\-----

The next day Miranda returned to the hangar. She brought a box full of DVDs, and a projector. She walked down the platform to the Autobots and the younglings noticed her first. They decided to walk to her and see what she was up to. Miranda turned to them after settling the projector on the garden table in the middle of the room.

"Ah, you two are up already. Good morning." She greeted.

"Hi?" Hot Rod replied, somewhat puzzled.

"What is that?" Moonracer asked, pointing at the projector.

"Tell your friends to come here, I need their help with settling a screen."

"A screen for what?"

“I brought some movies. Do you have those on your planet?."

“Well,-”

“-we do.”

“Good. I wanted to introduce you to our planet in a more pleasant way. I prepared some historical movies, educational movies, and the ones children your age will definetly like. I figured we can start with that.”

The younglings peeked inside of the box and took a look at the movies’ covers. They all had pretty neat pictures on it.

“You can pick the first movies if you’d like.” Miranda moved away from the table and let the two of them get a better look

“We can?” Moonracer asked. Their liaison nodded.

“Whatever you feel like watching. We don’t have to start with the serious ones first.”

“Oh. Okay.” The two of them were silently deciding for a while before Hot Rod pointed at one of the covers. It seemed to be some kind of a superhero movie.

“This one looks kinda cool.”

“I like that one.” Moonracer pointed at a cover with a funny looking yellow creature in a detective hat.

“Alright,” Miranda picked up the two movies held them up. “which one are we watching first?”


	7. An Unexpected Guest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title speaks for itself, it's mystery time

"This is an ‘a.’ This is an ‘e’. This is ‘m’."

“Hold on, wasn’t that the ‘w’?”

“...Huh. I’ve been doing this wrong this entire time.” Ravage admitted, making Bulkhead let out an irritated groan.

“I knew something was wrong.” Bumblebee said, changing letters on his console into Cybertronian.

“Okay, see, this looks like proper grammar now.” Megatron said, taking a hold of the said console. He looked through it and then tapped on it’s screen a few times. “I’m positive with this one, this one, and this one. That one I can handle in case the previous three weren’t good for you.” When he finished, he pushed the list towards the other mechs. Bulkhead catched it in mid air and pushed it closer to himself. He hummed, grabbing his chin as he looked through the list of offered supplies.

“Definetly not that one.” He drew an ‘x’ with his digit on one of the options. “Why would rocket fuel be even included?” Ravage snorted at that. “Alright, I doubt that everyone has the same needs so let’s just take a few more options so everyone can be satisfied.”

“Sounds good.” Bumblebee nodded. Megatron gave him a thumb up.

Bulkhead made a few taps and a single console splitted into four smaller ones. He gave each mech one and they started reading through the list of fuels’ chemical squad. They spent some time picking the most fitted fuel for themselves but finally managed to get it done.

“Hot Rod!” Bulkhead called, collecting all lists and turning them back into one. After a second Hot Rod peeked from the sheet’s gape. The green mech walked to him and showed him the holograph.

“Give that to the liaion.” He requested.

“Okay.” The youngling said. Bulkhead slid the console on his servos and the youngling headed towards Miranda’s platform. Bumblebee stood up and stretched.

“What time is it?”

Bulkhead opened the browser and searched for an Internet watch. He stared at it for some time with narrowed optics before realizing something.

“Right. We haven’t learned numbers yet.”

“Guess I know what I’m doing for the rest of the day.” The scout shrugged.

“Why, that is a wonderful idea!” Megatron smiled, turning to Bumblebee. “I’ll be doing that too! You are free to join me if you’ll have any problems, I’ll be happy to help!”

Bumblebee seemed to be annoyed by that. The Decepticon noticed that and dropped his smile.

“Thanks, but I’m not a sparkling. I’m capable of learning how to count to three.” Bumblebee said.

“Oh no, this isn’t what I meant...” Megatron said.

“No, I... I know what you meant. It’s just really unneccessary.”

“Ah... Right. I get it. Bulkhead, what about you?”

“I need some time for recharge.” Bulkhead said, heading to the exit. “Unfortunately I can go only as far without any rest.”

“Have a good rest then, my friend! And you have a fruitful study, Bee!”

“Hey Megatron? One more thing.”

“Yes?”

"I would **really** appreciate if you'd stop calling me my friends only nickname." Bumblebee said, looking very irritated.

"... Oh...” Megatron said softly. “Of course. I’m sorry."

“Just don’t to this again.” The scout sighed, exiting the room and heading to his own, leaving Megatron and Ravage behind.

The Decepticon couldn’t help but look down sadly. Ravage noticed that and went closer to him, bumping his head against his shoulder.

"I know what you’re thinking and I’m telling you to immediately stop. This was the situation’s fault, not yours. You really couldn’t do much about it.”

"Perhaps. Though sometimes I can't help but wish that our last encounter ended on a different note..." After a second he ex vented and smiled to the Cassette. "But you know what? You’re right, enough of that. Let's focus on more important things for now. One of them being you getting your own room!"

“Oh come on now,” Ravage rolled his optics, looking in a different direction. “You can do better than that, that topic’s boring as slag.”

"It's about your personal comfort, how can it be anything less than a very important matter?" Megatron gently cupped his cheeks and tilted his head up so he could face him. “No more sharing, you’ll be a king of your very own corner! It might be a small freedom, but a freedom nonethless! And you know what else is great?”

“What?”

“We can be neighbours.~” Megatron sung, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. “Think about it! You asking me for an itty bitty cube of Energon every day or doing all the other fun stuff neighbours are doing!”

“And what exacly is that other stuff?” Ravage asked, feeling somewhat amused by his friend’s exaggerated enthusiasm.

“I don’t know, I never had a neighbour before. I suppose we can figure that out soon enough!”

Ravage tried to muffle his laughter but failed. He let out a small chuckle, grinning to the bigger mech.

“I suppose that’s one good thing about the whole situation. Thanks, I’ll be looking forward to moving out as soon as possible.”

“You’re welcome. Oh! I forgot!” After a second the Decepticon jumped on his pedes, making a dramatic heelturn towards the Cassette. “I’ve been preparing my Galvatron impression for you all morning!”

Ravage was surprised at first, but then smiled widely.

“I love your Galvatron impression!”

\-----

“I was thinking about showing them a couple of movies. Would that be alright?”

“As long as it’s not anything drastic or vulgar.”

“Are crushing cars considered drastic?”

“For us, no. For them, yes.”

“Understood.“

Miranda was packing her stuff while Bulkhead stood under the platform. He was answering all questions she had with addition of his own that needed to be answered by Miranda.

The agent put a coat over her and grabbed her bag, heading towards the exit.

“I’ll see what I can find. In the meantime, please don’t call me on my phone again.”

“Please don’t give us any reasons to do that again.” Bulkhead replied dryly. Miranda sighed.

“Goodnight to you.” She said as she was about to step outside. Bulkhead didn’t reply.

Miranda left the hangar, closing the door behind her shut. She walked down the stairs and headed to a small post near the building. There was an old man sitting in it and reading a magazine.

“Good evening.” Miranda greeted, searching through her bag for an opening card.

“Evening.” The guard replied, not looking away from the magazine. When she finally found her card she went closer to the gate and slid it against the opening slot, allowing her to pass. When she was going through the entrance, she sensed something weird.

She looked around, feeling like something was out of order.

“Did you feel that?” She asked the guard.

“Feel what?” He asked, putting the magazine down.

“That strange wind just now.” Miranda said.

“Oh yes, the ocean breeze sure is pretty strange at this hour.” He said, looking up. “And the air is surpisingly dry too. I think a storm may be coming this way.”

Miranda swore this wasn’t like any other wind she had experienced before, but at the same time she really didn’t want to stay and risk getting caught up in a rain. She glanced one last time around the place before hesitantly turning around and walking away. The guard returned to his magazine, not even realizing that someone was hiding behind his post.

The figure slightly peeked out of shadows, moonlight reflecting in the surface of their square glasses. Outside of the guard, there didn’t seem to be any humans around, but they still needed to be careful.

Soon, they stepped out and revealed a figure of a grown man wearing a long dark cloak which perfectly blended with it’s surroundings. It was so perfect that whenever he was walking around he was becoming basically invisible to the eye. The man seemed very nervous.

Slowly and carefully, he started heading towards the hangar. He looked around and noticed stairs leading to the inside. Technically he could use them, but he expected them to be locked. Then he glanced up and saw a window on the metal wall of the hangar. It was open.

The human walked closer and started rubbing his palms against each other. He was wearing some kind of gloves which after a few seconds created a powerful magnetic charge. The man put one hand on the wall and then the other one and slowly started climbing up.

Suddenly the guard glanced away from his magazine and looked up, making the man freeze. He was staring around the place for some time, not seeming to notice anything out of order. He scrached his head and then returned back to his magazine. The man in the cloak let out a silent relieved huff.

When he reached the window, he put one foot and one arm through it, moving his body closer to it. He was about to do the same with the other side, but suddenly he slipped and started falling down. He covered his mouth to prevent himself from screaming and pressed a button on his shirt. He wrapped himself around the long cloak and waited for an incoming impact. Thankfully the impact was softened by his suit which made him levitate just above the ground. The human had to take a few seconds to catch his breath and calm his beating heart. He hoped that no one heard that.

After some time his suit returned back to normal and he safely landed on the floor. The man started moving around the place, not even realizing that something slipped out of his pocket and fell on the ground.

\-----

“‘Let your roots die, let the metal crackle, let your hatred consume your spark! If we are to be seen as madmen, we can as well become such!...’“

Megatron was performing for Ravage when suddenly the Minicon picked up some strange sound coming from the outside.

“‘Today is the day the dream is born! Today is the day we trium-!’“

“Megatron, wait.” Ravage interrupted and Megatron stopped. The Cassette stood up and went closer to the exit.

“Is something wrong?” Megatron asked.

“No, it’s alright. I just need to check on something.” He looked outside of the room, optics eventually landing on the floor. There was a small unfamiliar object lying on it. It resembled a colourful peashooter with a cogwheel look a like attacked to it’s side.

Ravage hummed thoughtfully.

“I’ll be right back.” He said, turning to Megatron.

“Alright.” Megatron said, slightly worried. “Are you sure everything is alright?”

“In all honesty that’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He said, leaving the room and picking up the object with his mouth.  
\-----

The cloaked man was wandering around the place. He made sure to take a good look at every detail as if he was looking for something specific. The hangar on the inside seemed strangely... cozy. Almost as if someone was living there. Pretty strange choice of surroundings to contain something that could as well be used as a really powerful weapon.

Suddenly he heard loud metal clanking approaching. The man nervously looked around and noticed a potential cover. As quickly as he could, he ran into one of the sheet rooms, making sure not to bring any unneccessary attention.

The human wrapped the cloak around himelf tighter, listening to the sounds from the other side. The noises were louder for only a moment which made him panic, but after some time whatever he heard passed by. He couldn’t help but let out a small relieved sigh. Again. He hadn’t even started the hardest part and he almost had a heart attack at least three times by now.

He was about to to leave and continue his investigation when he saw something terrifying. When he looked down, he noticed that his shadow grew bigger... And had two pointy ears now.

When he came to that realization he completely froze. Something big was standing behind him.

After a second he felt a strange huff on his shoulder that made him shiver. That sadly confirmed that he wasn’t alone in this room. The human was scared to do so, but eventually he found some courage to slowly turn around. He immediately regretted it afterwards.

Right behind him was standing a gigantic cat like metal creature with big bloody red optics staring directly at him.

The man was absolutely horrified. Could the creature see him? He still had his cloak on, but he swore that it somehow knew he was there. He tried to escape, but the cat made a jump and blocked his way out. Yes, it could definetly see him now, because the cloak fell out of his hands and revealed his form.

The human started backing off and soon the robot started following his steps with narrowed optics and wary grimance.

"O-oh my-!" The man desperately started searching through his pockets to find something he could use against the giant cat, holding his arm forward to prevent it from stepping closer. This propably could've ended with him getting his arm bitten off, but at least he’d still get to keep the rest of himself.

"N-no! Shoo! Sit? Stay back!" He tried to shoo it away, but it didn't work. In fact this propably encouraged it to start stepping even closer. The man suddenly found his pen and drew it out. Without any hesitations he rolled it's peek and pointed it on the ground. A small red dot appeared on it, making the cat stop and glance at it.

"A-aha!-" The human grinned nervously, moving the dot around. "See that pretty red dot?"

The creature just followed it with it's optics, nothing more. It lacked the playful enthusiasm Earth cats were so famous for.

"Yeah, that one! Such a pretty dot, right? It's all yours if you'll catch it-"

Suddenly the metal cat put down it's paw with terrifying reflex and managed to catch the dot. It scared the man so much that he jumped and dropped his pen, trying to supress a shout.

It was again moving towards the human who hit the wall behind him while trying to escape. His heart was bouncing so hard in his chest he thought it was going to explode. Those two hungry red orbs were the most likely capable of sensing his fear and were just waiting for the right moment to pounce.

What happened however was far worse than what he expected. The metal creature chuckled and brought it's head closer to him, smirking.

"And now it's **your** turn to chase the dot."

The man instantly fainted, unable to continue this encounter anymore.

\-----

Ravage returned to Megatron's room, holding the human by his cloak with his tail. 

“I found the source of the noise!” He said, placing him on the floor.

"What is that?” Megatron asked, turning to him.

“Come take a look for yourself.” Ravage said, sitting in front of his ‘prey’. Megatron went closer and flipped the camouflaged figure on it’s back. After a second he looked back at Ravage.

"Ravage, that's a human."

"It is." The Cassette nodded. Megatron hesitantly nudged the man's side with his digit and was met with no response.

"Are they even alive? Because if there are some dead humans lying around I’m going to be, rather frankly, concerned."

"I think they hit the stasis. They were wandering around the place wearing that camouflage.”

"Hm. Well, that's pretty interesting."

"Any ideas how to wake them up?" After the Cassette asked that Megatron squinted.

"I thought you knew how to do that."

"...Huh.” Ravage glanced down at the human. “Well, this may be an issue."

\-----

“I think we should give them a few electric shocks.”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous for an organic, Ravage?”

“How the frag should I know? I just met them.”

“I think we should pour some oil on them. I don’t think it can hurt them more than- Oh!”

“What?”

“I think they’re moving!”

The man’s vision was black, but he could hear voices all around him. He moved his head to the side, groaning.

“Oh slag, you’re right! Hey! Hey human!”

“Let’s give them some space, shall we?”

The human slowly opened his eyes, grabbing his forehead. The first things he saw were two silhouettes standing over him.

"W-what?" He said weakly.

"Easy there, buddy." One of the voices spoke.

"Are you alright?" The second one joined.

“Y-yeah...” The human said and tried to stand up. “I think I went through a shock."

"Do you know what caused it?"

"No, but I'm trying to remembe-" He screamed when his vision returned to normal and he saw two giant robots standing over him, smiling to him. He quickly stepped back, pinning his back to the wall.

"Oh good, you seem to remember now!” The Cassette grinned.

“Y.... You talk...! You really talk...!” The man stuttered, utterly confused and horrified.

“Wow, what a discovery. Megatron, did you know I could talk?”

"Maybe I should talk to them." Megatron whispered to Ravage.

"Hey I was trying to lighten the mood a bit, but be my guest." Ravage stepped back so Megatron could reach his servo to the scared human.

"My deepest apologies, we didn't mean to scare you." The man gave it a look, noting that the mech had slightly pointed claw like digits that could propably rip him apart with ease.

"My name is Megatron, and my friend there is Ravage. What is yours?" He didn’t reply. “Alright, you don’t have to answer that, but know that I’m going to come up with an embarrasing nickname for you and I’m pretty sure you won’t like it.”

“You are... sentient?” The man asked, terrified but intrigued. Megatron just shrugged.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I just... I thought... Oh boy.” The human took a deep breath and then sighed, slightly calming himself. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“You and me both, pal.” Ravage laid in the corner, watching the whole thing go down. 

“Do you need to take some time to process everything?” Megatron asked.

“No, it’s fine. It’s just... wow. I’ve never talked to a sentient robot before.”

“I’ve never talked to an outside human either so it’s a pretty big moment for both of us.” The Decepticon let out a small amused chuckle.

“You’re not... You’re not going to kill me now, right?” The man sheepishly asked.

“Oh Primus no.” Megatron assured. “This would end pretty bad for everyone involved, especially you.”

“Right.. okay.” The man glanced at the servo again, unsure of what to do. The giant sentient robot assured him that he didn’t mean any harm to him, surely he could trust him. Right?...

After some time he slowly reached his own hand forward and placed it in Megatron's open palm, ready to draw it back at any second.

"T-the name’s Carl." He said with some hesitations.

"Hello, Carl.” Megatron gave him a warm smile. “It's very nice to meet you!”

The human named Carl looked down and studied Megatron's servo. The pointed digits were terrifying, but the whole thing was such a good constructed mechanism. It's movement seemed so fluent and easy to operate. Truly a magnificent creation, just like the individual Megatron himself.

"Fascinating..." Carl whispered.

"What was that?" Megatron asked, bringing him back to the reality.

"Ah, sorry! Sorry!” Carl quickly pulled it back, raising his hands up in the air. “I was just... looking!...”

"At my servo." Megatron brought his servo to himself and gave it a glance.

"Yes... at your servo. It's... really big and impressive." Ravage snorted. Megatron just grinned.

"Why, thank you. I really like that servo."

"I’ve never seen anything like it before. I've never seen anything like **you** before. Just... who made you?"

"It's best not to ask us about that, you don’t want us to get existential!" Ravage cackled, Carl didn’t get that.

"You ask so many questions, Carl. I actually happen to have one for you as well." Megatron said, catching the human off guard.

"You do?"

"What are you doing here? I don't believe this place is open for the rest of the world."

"Oh... Yeah, no. It isn't."

"Why did you break in then?"

Sentient and observant. Those were two really impressively developed traits.

"I, uh... Well. You know, this is really complicated." He massaged his neck, looking away. “Everything changed when I learned that you two are sentient. I’m not even sure if I can share that information with you in the first place.”

“I give you my word, no one is going to learn about anything you’ll say from my mouth.” Megatron said, putting his servo over his spark chamber. Carl still seemed unsure. He turned his head to Ravage who gave him a nod.

“... Okay.” Finally, he agreed. “This staying secret is very important so I hope I can trust you. I wanted to... Actually, I think I kind of need your help."

"Oh?" Megatron rose his optical ridge. After a second Carl reached to his pocket and pulled out a small paper notebook and a pen. The notebook had a golden light bulb badge on it.

"I work for a company responsible for one of the most dedicated techical studies on the world. Our job is to study, create, and advance everything that can help others and improve lives. I've been sent here to collect some notes on the matter of giant robots that recently appeared on Earth. We had theories that you were some kind of battle machines at first, but I’m relieved that you’re something more than that.”

"So they sent you to break into a hangar full of possibly dangerous weapons?" Megatron tried to sum up what he said.

"That... Does sound really nasty when you put it that way. I-I did say it’s really complicated, so... The thing is, I was going to just take a look around the place, take some notes and then leave, but then I stumbled upon you two. Who knows more about sentient robots from space than sentient robots from space themselves, right? Is it alright if I asked you a few questions about your design and anatomy? I know this is a weird request, but it’s **really** essential.”

Megatron and Ravage exchanged a quick look.

"... Hold on a second." Megatron said, standing up and stepping back to Ravage. He ducked and the other leaned closer.

"I'm not the only one who thinks this is pretty shady, right?" Ravage whispered.

"No." Megatron whispered back. "He seems to be geniuent though."

The two of them turned around to Carl who seemed rather awkward, then returned to their conversation.

"You're not really going to share our secrets with him, right?" Ravage said.

"Of course not. Althought, I think I have an idea."

After some time Megatron stood up and walked back to the human.

"After a consultation with my trusted friend, we decided to cooperate. Under one condition." He said.

"Oh, of course! What is it?" Carl asked.

"We'll tell you something about our species, and you'll tell us something about yours. How’s that sound?"

"Deal." Carl smiled, reaching his hand to him. Then he realized they couldn’t shake hands. "Oh..."

"... How about this?" Megatron offered a bump fist.

"Perfect!" Carl accepted, bump fisting the giant mech. This was possibly the best day of his entire life.

“So,” Megatron sat down, crossing one leg over the other and making himself comfortable. “What are your questions?”

Carl flipped through his notebook and sat down as well.

“Let’s start with something easy. Do you need any specific source to keep you working or, well, alive?”

“Naturally. Some bots work on steam, some on oil. It usually depends. I, for instance, run on gas.” The Decepticon started lying. There was no way he’d tell somoene he just met about Energon. Carl was writing that down anyway.

“I see. And how much of that do you usually need to keep moving?”

“Oh, a lot. I’m not going to hide that I’m a big individual so I require a lot of fuel.”

“One time he ran out of gas and they needed to drag him all the way back to the garage.” Ravage added, smirking. Megatron discreetly gave him a side eye.

“What about electricity?” Carl continued. “Are there some electric bots out there?”

“Oh, slag no.” Ravage shook his head.

“Absolutely not recommended.” Megatron crossed his arms in an ‘x’.

“Eugh, I’ve got bugs just thinking about it.” Ravage shivered. Carl wasn’t hiding his surprise.

“What’s wrong with electricity?” He asked.

“It uh...”

“It reboots our systems.” Ravage lied, helping his friend out. “One good zap and you’re a completely different person in just a few klicks.”

“Yeah, what he said.” Megatron said, giggling internally.

“Oh. I’m sorry. Storms must be a nightmare for you.”

“They are.” Ravage said.

“Another question is- alright hold on, I really need to know that... Are there any bots powered by wheels and animals?”

“... **Obviously!”** The bigger mech seriously started cracking up, this was the best mental image he had in years. Carl looked absolutely devastated. “Listen, we don’t to talk about that!” He added, hearing Ravage wheeze behind him. “Just move on while you still have a chance!”

“I don’t know if you can see it, but I’m actually a bit scared to continue.” Carl let out a snort.

“Oh don’t worry, please do go on.” Megatron encouraged.

“Are you guys waterproof?"

"Yes. As long as we're not covered in foam of any kind." Megatron managed to slightly calm himself, controlling his urge to laugh.

"And how that works?"

"We have magnetic shields that are waterproof. Once they get disrupted by foam, we sink."

“Okay, this could’ve been so much worse I guess.”

Suddenly Ravage burst into laughter. Carl peeked from behind Megatron and noticed that.

“Was this thing I said really funny?”

"Oh that's just a little inside joke of ours. You know us with our magnetic shields and foams and wheel animals.” The Decepticon heard Ravage making an unintelligible noise behind him that made him snort loudly.

"This is literally the weirdest conversation I ever had a chance to participate in.” Carl couldn’t help but giggle at the silliness he accidentally created in the room.

\-----

They spent a long time answering Carl’s questions. It was suspicious how detailed and personal most of them were, but they had a lot of fun with them. The more time they spent the more ridiculous stuff they were coming up with. Whoever sent the man was in for a wild ride.

“Alright, that should be pretty much it!” Carl said, closing the notebook. “This were... a weird couple of hours, but again, thank you so much for helping me out. It means so much.”

“Sooooo, we’re done?” Megatron asked, straightening up.

“Yes, I suppose we are.” Carl said, hiding the notebook in his cloak.

“That’s fantastic! Anyway, I think it’s the right time to get into our part of the deal, don’t you think?"

"Hm? Oh right, right.” The human chuckled, turning to him “Humans are weird too so you better brace yourselves. What did you want to ask?"

"You know, all this talk about machines and biology made me reaaaally curious. Why don’t we start with something easy first?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Who are you working as for that organization?” Megatron asked, supporting his chin with his servo. Carl couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at him.

“... That’s... a pretty strange question to ask.”

“I just want to know where did you get that sweet piece of clothing from.”

“Oh, the cloak?” Carl grabbed the end of the cloak, wrapping it around himself. The lower part of his body disappeared. “My workplace gave it to me for the sake of this mission. Do you like it?”

“It’s certainly not something I’m seeing everyday, though I was under the impression that you were the one who made it.”

“Oh no, no, I didn’t. Although I am an inventor, actually.”

Megatron’s optics suddenly sparkled, smile appearing on his faceplates.

“You are an inventor?”

“Well, yeah. Pretty unusual carrer choice, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Speaking of which.” Ravage suddenly stood up, walking to Carl. He was holding the earlier found peashooter in his mouth. “Is this yours?”

Carl gave it a brief look and let out a gasp, quickly grabbing the object.

“My invention! When did I lose it?!”

“I found it on the floor.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much, you literally saved my life! Man, I really need to wear a bag or something for missions like that!”

“That’s a good idea.” Ravage said.

“Did you make that one?” Megatron asked, pointing at the small object.

“Yes, this one’s mine. Althought it’s a work in progress so I can’t really show you it right now.” He said, hiding it back in his pocket.

“It’s alright. And I’m always happy to meet another science enthusiasts such as myself!” There was this excited tone Megatron possesed which seemed to be somewhat an unique thing for him. It was quite endeering how geniuenly interested he sounded.

“Are you... are you’re a scientist or something?” Carl asked, looking up.

“I did work a few years in a lab. That being said, I think I have more questions that I’d love you to answer now.”

“I’m listening.”

“Can you name a few interesting things about your planet?”

“Oh, of course! We have a lot of history, places, and cultures. Do you want anything specific?”

“Whichever you like the most? I’d like to have your honest opinion on them?”

The inventor was... not expecting where that conversation would take him to be honest.

"You... You want to know what I think?"

"Well, yes! Since we dropped the business part by now, why don’t we get to know each other a bit better? You know, like a science guy to another science guy.” Megatron said, gesturing at himself and then at Carl.

"But... Megatron, this is... this really isn't how that works. We're not supposed to bond and I'm not trying to meet you better, it's... It's just a job, think about it as an interview.”

"As an interwiev you say?" The Decepticon hummed.

"As an interview." Carl nodded.

"Alright. Done."

"Okay."

"I was friends with my interviewer." Megatron grinned. Carl was completely baffled. "Alright, but seriously, if you don't want to answer that it's fine. I have a searching engine around."

"I just... I'm pretty surprised you're interested in that. Are you sure you don’t want to know a thing or two about human anatomy or something?"

"Honestly? I think I put more interest in simply talking with you than listening to a bland speech about what you’re keeping inside. Never was a fan of the nasty stuff, you know?"

Carl had to take a moment to think about it. On one hand, this was against anything his advisors were telling him before the mission, but on the other hand, a nice giant space robot was clearly interested in him so could anyone really blame him for going with it?

Yes. Yes, of course, but...

"... Well...” Carl started after the pause. “I guess that's alright, if it's not going to get too personal."

"What's your limit?"

"I’m definetly not going to tell you where I live or share any details about my personal life. Just a few things I find interesting and that’s it.”

“Of course.”

“Okay.” Carl hummed, thinking. What would be the thing he’d the most likely show to a giant robot which never saw his world before first?

After a second he pulled out his phone and started typing on it. Then he turned it’s screen to Megatron, presenting a picture of a gigantic bridge above a river surrounded by a magnificent forest. Megatron leaned in, optics shining with delight.

“New River Gorge.” Carl stated. “It’s a part of a National Park in Vest Virginia. What do you think?”

“Nice bridge.” Ravage said. Megatron was silent for some time.

"This is...” He finally started, sounding out of breath. “possibly the best thing I've seen in a long time. Carl, this is absolutely amazing!”

“I’m glad you like it.” Carl said.

“’Like’ is a weak word to describe my feelings! I... Hold on,” Suddenly Megatron’s optics flickered and he looked in another direction. A holographic screen appeared on the wall, showing Carl a city standing on a lone metal cliff from afar at night. Ravage recognized it immediately, it was Kaon. It was the very first and last picture of the city the ex prisoner had a chance to see after gaining back his freedom.

“It’s only fair for me to show you something beautiful as well. This is Kaon.” Megatron confirmed, feeling somewhat melancholic. Ravage decided to step back and return to his corner. He looked like something was on his mind.

“... Megatron, this...” Carl smiled widely. “This is absolutely gorgeous! Did... did you live there?”

“I did. Sadly however it wasn’t like this at the time. It’s magical to see it bloom like that over the years.” Megatron sighed, focusing on the city. The inventor’s smile faded as he turned back to the picture.

They stared at it for some time before the mech closed the screen and looked down at the human with a smile. “Ah, I apologise. I can get a little sentimental sometimes.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for. And thanks... for showing me this.” Carl smiled back.

“You’re welcome I suppose... And thank you too.”

Ravage couldn't help but notice that Carl's tone and posture were much more relaxed than before. Megatron’s as well.

“Oh, I have another question!” Megatron suddenly jumped. “Do you have any theatres on your planet?”

“Oh yeah, we do actually!” Carl said. “Can I have your Internet for a second?”

“This?” Megatron opened his console, showing a searching engine they discovered that day and lowered it to the inventor. He started typing something on it.

“What kind of plays do you two like?”

“Not interested.” Ravage said.

“Many, although I’m specifically fond of big extra spectacles with lights and action and all that silly stuff. I’m really dramatic that way.”

“I know just the thing.” Carl said, searching for something to show Megatron. Even though Ravage was turned away, he was definetly going to peek from time to time to check on the two of them to see where this was going to go.

\------

"Ravage! Megatron!" Megatron and Carl spent whole night watching all spectacles they could find. They didn’t even notice that it was morning until they heard Moonracer's voice calling them from the outside.

Carl paused the video, looking at his watch. Ravage quickly rushed to the two of them, helping Megatron hide the human behind them. The sea green Speedster peeked inside of their room and smiled at them.

“Hello Moonracer!” Megatron greeted her.

“Yeah, hi.” Ravage rose his paw up. Carl held his breath and stood still. “Did you need something?”

“We’re going to watch some movies and the liaison needs help with settling a screen.” The sea green Speedster said.

“We’ll be there in a klick.” Megatron said, Moonracer nodded and left.

“I can’t believe it’s morning already!" Carl stood up, making sure that he had everything packed up this time. "It was so much fun to spent time with you, but I need to go now.”

“How are you going to leave?” Megatron asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” The inventor assured. “Just to be clear, you’re not moving anytime soon?”

"No.” Ravage replied.

“You are always welcome back over here." Megatron added.

"I hope that there will be a reason to come back.” Carl said. He turned around and looked up, noticing a window on the hangar's wall. It was pretty high.

"Hold on, let me just..." Megatron lowered his servo to the ground and opened his palm.

"O-oh, you want me to...?” Carl pointed at the servo, then at him, and then at himself. “For real?"

"For real." Megatron nodded.

"Wow. Thanks." Carl let out a small chuckle. He slowly made one step forward on Megatron’s servo and then the second one, this time a bit wobbly. When he was in the Decepticon’s palm, he felt the ground moving and he tried his best not to lose his balance. When he was close to the window, he left the servo and moved towards it. That was incredible to experience. He turned around to the mechs for the last time.

"Bye." He said and then jumped, pushing the levitation button again.

“Bye!” Megatron waved him goodbye, smile staying on his faceplates. Ravage looked up at him.

“You know, Ravage. He’s a good man.”

"And he's being used, isn't he?" The Cassette asked.

"Oh, he absolutely is." Megatron admitted.


	8. As Well As It Can Get part 1

The following days were equally interesting for everyone. Autobots started gaining knowledge about Earth while Decepticons plotted their own devious plans. The time was passing by ever so slowly and they felt like they had all the time in the world to do as they pleased, not even acknowledging each other’s existence. Here are some things that happened in the meantime.

\-----

When Miranda started feeling comfortable enough around the giant robots and they somewhat got used to having to watch their steps around her she decided to have her desk moved on their level. Now she was sitting in the corner of the hangar, filling her paperwork and keeping an eye on the Cybertronians, occasionally having to answer some of their questions.

Moonracer was sitting next to her while Miranda was doing her usual work. They were exchanging some of the details about their worlds as well as their differences that needed to be acknowledged.

“Let me try this one last time, crockodiles are called Skullcrunchers.” Miranda said, trying to memorise the topic.

“Yeah.” Moonracer nodded.

“Lizards have four arms and are a size of a house. They’re also described as ‘Lizardheads’.”

“Yeah.” She nodded again, smiling.

“And you have actual unicorns on your planet.” That made Moonracer let out a giggle. “Right, Onehorns. Unicron is a completely different thing.”

“That’s right, you’ve got it!” Moonracer cheered.

“Are they able to change shape too?”

“Nope. Only us.”

“Alright then, I think understand so far. Thank you for helping me, Moonracer.”

“No problem. Oh! Oh! I’ve been meaning to ask you too!” Moonracer suddenly remembered something. “So I know that your planet has their own Insecticons, except they’re not really Insecticons, and they’re really small. Does that mean you don’t have any beastformers either?”

“I’m afraid we don’t.” Miranda said.

“Sooo, those are animals, right?” Moonracer pulled out her console and showed Miranda a picture of a small yellow and pink winged creature. “We don‘t have those on Cybertron so I needed to double check.”

“Oh, the moths.” Miranda glanced at the picture, looking away from her paperwork. “Yes, those are animals.”

“I found one yesterday flying around the base. It was grey, but looked really similiar to that one.” Moonracer stated. The agent leaned on her chair, putting one of her arms behind it.

“Is it still around?”

“No, it flew out of the window.” Moonracer pointed in her room’s direction. “I didn’t know how to approach it, so I just observed it from the corner and I think it lost interest in me. Later I was watching a few videos about it’s species. They are really interesting to study.”

“Yes, I suppose they can be pretty curious at times.” Miranda admitted. After some time she gave her a grin. “Have you ever heard a moth squeaking?”

 **“They can make noises?!”** Moonracer was completely blown away.

"Apparenlty they can."

"Can we watch a moth movie on our next movie night?”

“I can give you one right now.” Miranda picked up the box of movies she kept under her desk and started searching through all the DVDs inside.

“There.” She said, pulling out a green DVD. “This one’s a documentary about many kinds of insects, moths should be among them.”

“Oooh!” Moonracer said. Suddenly her optics started shining and a strange sea green laser emerged from them, focusing on the DVD. Miranda tried to keep as still as possible. After a second Moonracer blinked and the laser disappeared. She then pulled out her console and the movie about insects appeared on it. Moonracer smiled widely.

“Thank you!”

“T-that’s how you download movies?” Miranda asked.

"That’s one of the scanner’s functions, yes.” The sea green Speedster said. She stood up and walked away to watch the document.

“... A scanner, huh?” Miranda gave the DVD a quick glance before putting it back in the box and returning to her work.

\-----

"There. This should prevent you from teleporting for some time." Bulkhead said, placing a small metal disc over Megatron's spark chamber. Megatron glanced down and gave it a few gentle taps.

"Thank you, Bulkhead." He said, smiling. "I feel safer already!"

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Bulkhead asked. He didn’t want to pressure Megatron into talking, but he knew how serious the situation was.

“Of course.” Megatron nodded. “And you? How are you holding up?”

“Wonderful.” Bulkhead stepped back, cleaning his room from all unused parts he left behind. Miranda kept her word and provided him with everything he needed to make Megatron the disc. “As wondeful as I can be.”

“Good.” Megatron said. “That’s good.”

While in the middle of cleaning, Bulkhead remembered something he wanted to ask but never had a chance to do so before. He turned back to Megatron, holding a broken microwave in his servos.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Megatron said.

“What was all that noise a few days ago?” Bulkhead asked, catching Megatron off guard.

“... The noise?” Megatron repeated, hoping that Bulkhead wasn’t talking about what he was thinking.

“I don’t mean to be nosy, I just thought it was odd that you and Ravage were screaming at the top of your vocalizers so late at night while everyone was recharging. What were you even doing?”

Oh no. Bulkhead was talking about what he was thinking!

“Well, you see,... Wait.” Megatron wanted to process what his response should be, but he suddenly realised something. “Why were you up so late at night?”

“I...” Bulkhead looked away. “I had to think of some things.”

“Did you at least have some rest since we ended up in here?”

“Obviously.” Bulkhead said. Megatron crossed his arms, gaze growing more serious.

“But was it enough?” He asked. Instead of answering, Bulkhead just sighed and returned to cleaning.

“Bulkhead, seriously.” Megatron continued. “Sooner or later you’ll have to recharge.”

“I know. You really don’t have to worry about it. Anyway, let’s return to the topic of those noises, okay?”

“We were just browsing through the Internet.” Megatron answered. Technically it wasn’t a complete lie.

“The what?” Bulkhead asked.

“That’s what it’s called.” Megatron tapped his arm where his console was.

“How do you know?”

“From the Internet?” Megatron shrugged. “It turns out humans also have theathres. I was very positively surprised by that.”

“Ah, so that’s where the other voices came from.” Bulkhead said.

“Exacly!” Megatron chuckled, trying his best not to come off as awkward. “Did you find something on the Internet lately?”

“... I did, actually.” Bulkhead admitted, sorting leftover pieces into a few seperate piles. “A website called ‘Engineering rules’. It kind of reminds me of the educational datapads I had when I was still learning engineering. Except all the fun parts were missing, like building your own drone. By the way, did you know that there are over three hundred ways of creating fully functional drones?”

“No, I did not know.” Megatron said, gaining interest over the topic. “That is quite a number.”

“It sure is. From traditional ways to the modern ones. From Energon crystals, to cooper bricks. You can practically create a drone from anything.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“Oh, now you got me curious. Have you ever tried making one?”

“I can’t say I have. I was going to, but I never really felt like it was the right time to do so. Now I regret stalling, I wish I’d started that at some point.”

Megatron looked around and then smiled. “No one said it’s too late.” He gestured at the piles of scrap Bulkhead was making. The retired engineer glanced at it and then at Megatron with optical ridges raised.

“You want me to build a drone. With organic scrap.”

“You did say they could be made with anything.” Megatron shrugged. Bulkhead let out an amused huff, looking down at the microwave in his servo.

“... You know what? Why not?.” Bulkhead finally said. “Wanna see if I’ll do something useful with that?”

“Obviously.” Megatron straightened up. “Can I help somehow?”

“Actually, you can. Can you go through those devices and search for all similiar parts?" He asked as he pointed at the piles. Megatron nodded. He searched for the pieces while Bulkhead started taking the microwave apart.

"Hm. The pattern of those codes seem somewhat familiar..." Bulkhead decided to pull out his goggles and put them on while working.

“Done!” After a few minutes Megatron finished sorting out the piles. Bulkhead scooped the opened microwave and turned around.

“I’m going to need your help with figuring out which parts serves what purpose.”

“Ah, so we’re in an experimenting phase now?”

“Pretty much.”

“Great! I give you my word, I’ll do my best!” Megatron said, proudly hitting his chest. Bulkhead smiled a little.

“I know you will.”

\------

Bumblebee was walking around the place and looking around. He found a gardening website and decided to see if he’d be able to grow some Earth plants on his own.

When he found a perfect corner, unfortunately it seemed to be taken. Ravage was sitting in it, blasting loud music and nodding his head to the rythm.

“Hey.” The scout decided to approach him, already starting making plans in his mind of what he’d grow there. Ravage didn’t seem to hear him through the music. “Hey!” Bumblebee called again, a bit louder. This time Ravage heard him. He turned off his music and looked up at Bumblebee.

“What?” He asked.

“That’s, uh... that’s a really nice corner.” Bumblebee started.

“Oh, that one?” Ravage replied, leaning his back against the wall and making himself more comfortable. “You mean my favourite corner?”

“Yeah, that one. Would you mind if I borrowed it for some time?”

“Hm, interesting question. The answer is, I absolutely would.” Ravage said, lying on the floor.

“I just need like a small part of it.” Bumblebee continued. “All corners are already taken.”

“Sucks to be you then.” The Cassette grinned, making him frown. “Sorry pal, but I’m the king of this castle. I don’t want anyone else’s property on it.”

“What about this?” Bumblebee said, pointing at a couple of cyber pens lying next to Ravage. “Didn’t those belong to Hot Rod?”

“Oh yeah, the kid’s testing different paint and left them by themselves. I didn’t want anyone to step on them, ya know?”

“Since when do you care for others’ property?”

“Since now, apparently.”

Bumblebee groaned, losing hope in getting the access to that corner. He decided to walk away and search for some other place for his garden. After Ravage noticed that he was about to leave, he rose his head and said: “There is one thing you can do to earn this corner, though.”

Bumblebee immediately stopped and turned around. “What thing?”

“Oh, really just a little thing. I’m sure you’ll handle it.” Ravage glanced at his claws and swung his tail from side to side in slow motions as he spoke.

“Well, don’t leave me hanging.” Bumblebee gestured at him. “What is it?”

“Talk to Megatron about what happened and the corner is all yours.” Ravage said, not hiding his intentions anymore.

“... Oh.” Bumblebee’s expression became sour. So that’s what it was all about. He turned around and headed in another direction.

“You can keep your dirty corner.” He said bitterly on the passing. The Cassette squinted at him.

“You’ll have to talk to him eventually.” He murmured and turned his music back on.

\-----

“I couldn’t find anything else, so I figured this should at least get the paint across the surface.” Miranda said, giving Hot Rod a mop. Hot Rod scanned it before dipping it in a barrel with blue paint which they requested a few days ago. He drew it back, sniffing it’s tip.

“It smells weird.” He stated.

“Yes, we don’t make our paint with gasoline.” Miranda stated. Hot Rod brought his new brush to the big extra sheet on the floor. It left a visible blue trail behind it.

“I must say, I didn’t expect you to be an art enthusiast.” Miranda admitted. “Is that your hobby?”

“Yeah. Something like that.” Hot Rod replied, starting painting a circular shape. After some time he looked up at her. “Do you have any hobbies?”

“Yes.” She said. “I tell people what to do and they stop doing it the wrong way.”

Hot Rod snorted. “So you’re pretty much a chief around?”

“A chief, hm? Well, that’s the first time anyone compared me to something like that.”

“It does sound pretty cool. Can I call you Chief from now on?”

Miranda shrugged. “If that’s what you want to call me, go ahead.”

“Thanks, Chief.” He smiled, returning to his drawing. Miranda unfolded her sleeve and looked at her watch.

“Alright, my time is up.” She said as she headed to the exit. “Make sure not to paint on anything but that sheet, alright?”

“Mhm.” Hot Rod nodded, not looking away from his work. When she left, he looked around and smirked. He immediately rose from the ground and turned to the metal wall against him.

Moonracer was walking nearby when she heard her amica giggling to himself. She decided to head to him and see what he was up to.

“Didn’t liaison said not to paint on that?” She asked.

“She did.” Hot Rod said, grinning. “But she ain’t my boss.” Moonracer couldn’t help but cross her arms.

“This wall looked so bland and sad, it practically begged me to paint on it.” He added. Moonracer squinted. Hot Rod groaned.

“Fine. One picture, and that’s it.” Hot Rod showed her one digit which then pointed at her. “Plus, you get to chose.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.”

She hummed. “Alright.” She accepted, showing him a picture of a moth. “Draw this.”

“Ew.” He commented.

“What ‘ew’?!” Moonracer pouted, absolutely baffled. “This is the prettiest creature I’ve ever seen!”

“I’m starting to question your list of pretty things seen in life up to this point.”

“And for this kind of disrespect you’re going to paint two of them now.” She tried to look irritated, but her grin was giving away her amusement.

“Sure.” He chuckled, scanning the picture and getting to work.

Miranda returned the next day to the hangar. The first thing she saw completely caught her off guard. She rushed down the platform and distanced herself from the wall far enough to see two beautiful moths, one pink and one navy blue, painted on the wall. They were playing with each other in the wind which was visibly portrayed with soft yellow and baby blue colours around the two insects.

The agent stared at it before letting out a sigh and drinking her coffee while heading to her work desk.

“I’ll allow this one time, Hot Rod!” She shouted. Suddenly she heard distant muffled giggles which made her shake her head.


	9. As Well As It Can Get part 2

"Drone factory day eight. Me and my brilliant partner managed to piece together a stable looking drone. Quick recap from the last time, we spent first two days figuring out Earth’s equivalents of our materials and modified them so they could fit their new purpose. During the third day we started making a frame for our drone, for that we used what was left of broken microwaves, telephones and other devices of such kind, creating a small circular shape. By the fifth day we installed in it modified parts and extended their program of functioning. Was it hard? Immensely. Did we do it? We did, and I’m very proud of us! Anyway, the sixth day was my favourite day. Bulkhead started making a remote while I painted the frame, it kind of reminds me of the... The- the-hm. What was that name again?... I really need to write those things down, it’s very easy to get confuse- **Venus flytraps!** Yes, that’s the one! A small green and orange smiling venus flytrap! It’s really adorable. On the seventh day we took a break, and now we’re back to finish the job!” 

"You sure have a lot to say to your servo, Megatron.” Bulkhead commented, glancing at his partner.

"What servo?" Megatron grinned, pretending to hold something. "This is my sound recorder."

"You mean your dictaphone?" The retired engineer rose an optical ridge.

"You have your ways of naming things, I have mine." Megatron said, returning to finishing their drone's surface construction while Bulkhead worked on the controlling panel. Personally he wasn’t a big fan of the chosen design, especially on the colour sceme, but he could understand why it seemed to appealing to others. Plus, it was their first try, so they could always discuss some changes in the future.

"The remote is done.” Bulkhead said, picking up the controlling panel and holding it up. “Is everything ready?”

“Ready!” Megatron agreed, putting in the last pieces of metal surface and stepping back. The two of them exchanged a nod before the green engineer walked closer and held out his digit in front of the smaller robot.

"Three... Two....” He counted. When he reached ‘one’, he gently tapped it’s head, sending a small spark which ran through it’s entire system. After it died down, nothing seemed to be happening for some time.

“... Maybe it needs more energy?” Bulkhead said, scraching the back oh his head. Suddenly the drone created a short circuit, surprising the two of them. It’s small screen started flickering, and soon they heard a loud 'Ping!' sound which propably used to be a part of some microwave. Bulkhead and Megatron widened their optics.

Megatron gently nudged Bulkhead’s arm, tipping his head at the remote. The green mech put his digit on a small lever and gently leaned it to his side.

The drone slowly rose one of it's legs at the command. It swung from side to side, before landing a few inches away from it's previous spot. After some time, it repeated the motion with it's other legs, slowly moving ahead.

"... Huh..." Bulkhead couldn't help but smile. Megatron let out a laugh.

"We did it!" He cheered, making Bulkhead chuckle. He steered the drone towards the Decepticon. Megatron extended his servo and the little drone lazily climbed all the way up on his arm and stopped on his shoulder. Megatron helped it with it, making sure that it wouldn't fall. “Look at it, it’s perfect!”

“I must admit, I was starting to get sceptical.” Bulkhead admitted.

“I wasn’t. I believed in us since the very start!” Megatron’s smile widened as he picked the drone from his shoulder and held it in front of him.

“Can I name it?” He asked.

“Go on.” Bulkhead permitted.

“From this day forward, your name shall be... Sparkplug! The very first drone of Bulkhead and Megatron!” Megatron announced, rising the machine above his head.

“Come on.” Bulkhead said, gesturing at the exit. “Let’s see what it can do.”

\-----

"... I have literally no idea what you are talking about." Miranda said to Bumblebee who was kneeling before her desk.

"I asked if I can get a long neck stick grass." He shrugged, making her head hurt from confusion.

"What does that even mean?"

"This." He said as he rose a picture of an Earth plant he found on the Internet.

"... You want a bamboo?" Miranda asked, supporting her forehead with her hand.

“If that’s how it’s called, yes. I’m making a garden for important research purposes and it looks fun to grow."

"Perhaps, but first you’d have to prepare it to do so. This plant requires a lot of ground and a whole different climate to do as much as develop properly."

"Okay..." Bumblebee said, closing the bamboo picture and showing another. "How about the black white and green reaching grass?"

"Birch.” Miranda corrected. “It needs more room, and since it’s a tree, more time than any other plant.”

“Wow, those guys are surprisingly demanding. How about white water tea cup grass?” He asked, showing Miranda lilypads.

“Do all of your names end with grass?" She asked.

"I heard the word ‘grass’ and I couldn't get it out of my head ever since." Bumblebee said.

"Everybody make way!" Suddenly, they heard Megatron shouting from the distance. The two of them looked around and saw him and Bulkhead approaching. Soon, they noticed that behind them was waddling a little green and orange venus flytrap drone. Bumblebee looked stunned, while Miranda squinted.

"Please don't tell me this is your baby." She said when they were close enough.

“You wish.” Bulkhead smirked, steering the drone’s front towards Miranda’s desk.

“Everyone, we’d like to introduce you Sparkplug!” Megatron said as he gestured at he drone. Bumblebee blinked, studying it.

“It... looks so unusual.” He said. “How did you even make it?”

“Scrap.” Bulkhead stated. Sparkplug moved forward and attempted to climb on Bumblebee’s arm. The scout smiled and picked it up, supporting it with his second servo.

"Let me get this straight," Miranda joined her palms together. “you **robots** were able to build a **smaller robot** out of literal trash and make it work.”

“Yes.” Bulkhead nodded.

“Is this how... Is this how you came to be? What is the relationship between you and that... **that?”**

Megatron snorted, she gave him a look.

“Drones are very different than us.” Bulkhead explained, gesturing at him, Megaton, Bumblebee, and then at the drone in the Minibot’s servos. “We are sentient, we posses sparks and will of our own, while drones can only be commanded. They’re completely hollow and each one of them needs a controlling panel to function.”

“A friend of mine has one.” Bumblebee added. “She needs it to keep her floor clean. Some can broadcast programs across the planet, some are bought for older bots who can’t walk around their rooms and do their chores. It really depends on the programming.”

“So they’re household appliances, is what you’re trying to say then.” Miranda summed up.

“Yes.” Bulkhead said.

“But hypothetically, what would happen if one of the drones became sentient, like you?”

“That’s pretty impossible.” Bumblebee said.

“I say building this thing was pretty impossible in the first place.” Miranda said.

“It was tricky, but I can’t say it was impossible.“ Megatron said, putting his fists on his hips.

“Anyway, we’re about to give Sparkplug a few tests.” Bulkhead stated. “You can join us if you want.”

“Yes, it’s going to be fun!” Megatron cheered. “Everyone is free to join, especially you, since I see you’re pretty interested, **Bumblebee.”** He smiled and gave Bumblebee a wink. The scout couldn’t help, but clench his fist and frown. He slowly began understanding Ravage’s earlier behaviour. Megatron sensed that he angered him and immediately stepped down.

“Thanks, but...” After a second Bumblebee walked to Bulkhead and gave him their drone back. “I just remembered that I was asked to do something really important on the other side of the hangar, so I better get going. Good luck with the tests though, you did a great job.”

Miranda couldn’t help, but fall silent. She didn’t give Bumblebee any tasks and she doubted that the children did either. When he headed away, she glanced at Megatron whose expression uncharacteristically saddened.

“What was that supposed to be?” She asked.

“Nothing.” Bulkhead said, placing his servo on Megatron’s shoulder. “On the other side, I think it’s better if we’ll have no distractions while testing. Is that alright?”

“O-of course.” Megatron stuttered, quickly clearning his throat. “I’m sorry to disappoint, Miranda. I’ll make sure to talk with you later.”

“It’s... alright.” Miranda said, rising her hand up. “Just remember to clean afterwards and not cause any damages.” Megatron nodded and headed in another direction with Bulkhead. The agent glanced at them as they left, utterly confused. She had no idea there were some personal grudges within the group, and serious ones too by the looks of things.

\-----

When Bumblebee was heading to his room, he suddenly heard a sound of metal clanking against the floor followed by a squeak. It came from Moonracer's room. His previously caused anger melted as he quickly rushed inside, noticing Moonracer standing in the middle of her room. There was a big metal pole lying next to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Y-yeah." Moonracer said, picking up the pole. "Sorry, I got a little jumpy while practicing."

“... Practicing?” Bumblebee asked.

“Yeah. I was trying to learn a really cool trick.” She admitted. “Wanna see?”

“As long as you’ll be careful with that thing.” He said, pointing at the pole.

Moonracer nodded. After a second she started spinning the object around. She was doing fine until she tried to take the pole from one servo to another and ended up accidentally hitting herself in the forehead.

 **"Ouch!"** She hissed, putting her servo on her helm. Bumblebee wanted to prevent this from happening, but unfortunately was too late.

“Whoah there!” He said. 

“Sorry. Sorry.” She apologised, waving her arm before him to signal that she didn’t need any assistance. “This is a bit harder than I expected, that’s all.”

Bumblebee glanced at the pole, wondering something. After a second he picked it up and turned back to Moonracer.

“Maybe you need to start with something softer for now. I’m pretty sure it’s going to take a while until you’ll do that catch.”

“Yeah.” She agreed, slightly looking away in embarrasment. “That’s a good idea.”

Bumblebee’s expression softened and he gave her a small smile.

“Tell you what, kid. Why don’t you find something better to use for the practice and I’ll try helping you out with your trick tomorrow?”

Moonracer immediately turned back to him, shocked.

“Really?” She asked. To answer that question, Bumblebee started impressively spinning the pole around, throwing it in the air and catching it with his other servo.

“Really.” He said, supporting himself with it. “I can show you some of my own tricks too while we’re at it.”

The happiness bubbling in the young Speedster was unspeakable. Without any warning, she wrapped her arms around Bumblebee and gave him a crushing squeeze.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She squealed in excitement. After a second, she noticed that the scout was wiggling in her grasp rather desperately. She quickly put him down and he started coughing.

“Sorry.” She apologised again.

“Wow, you really have a good grip.” Bumblebee let out a raspy chuckle.

“I’ve been told it’s a family thing... Thanks Bee. I appreciate your help.” Moonracer said, smiling.

“Always happy to help. If you had any questions, you know where to find me.” He said, giving her the object back and exiting her room with a wave of his servo. Moonracer couldn’t help, but hug the pole before beginning her search, giggling excitedly at the though of another day.

\------

Bulkhead and Megatron decided that after walking around with their drone, they’d try something a little different. When the night came and Miranda left the building, they placed a stock of books on the floor and put Sparkplug next to it. Bulkhead was clicking on the controlling panel, while Sparkplug slowly moved it’s front legs and proceed to pick one of the books with them, slowly rising it. Megatron was standing next to him, fingers crossed for the drone.

All of Bulkhead’s concentration focused on the book. It was getting a little bit higher with every second. It seemed that it was going to accomplish it’s task, but unfortunately the book slipped and fell back on the pile.

“So close!” Bulkhead said, snapping his digits.

“So close indeed. May I try now?” Megatron asked, reaching his servo to the other mech. Bulkhead gave him the remote and started observing what he was doing. The Decepticon moved the drone, but instead of raising it’s legs, it headed towards the pile and pressed Sparkplug’s body against it. As it moved forward, the pile was being pushed all the way to the ‘x’ marked area nearby.

“This is not what the exercise is about.” Bulkhead said, crossing his arms.

“It’s doing the trick though.” Megatron gave him a toothy grin. When the pile arrived at the ‘x’, he gestured his servo at the finished job. Bulkhead rolled his optics and walked to the drone, picking it up. He flipped it on it’s back and grabbed one of it’s legs, humming thoughtfully.

“Maybe I should install pincers? That would make grabbing objects much easier. Or maybe some kind of extendable scooping claw would be better?...”

Megatron was listening to him, when suddenly his sensors picked up some strangely familiar signature. He looked around and nearly yelped, quickly turning his head towards the hangar’s window. He noticed at some figure was climbing all the way down the wall. It had camouflaging cloak on itself that was partly visible while getting down.

“Megatron?” Megatron was snapped out of his shock, looking back at Bulkhead.

“Yes?”

“I asked which option would be better in your opinion.”

“Oh, right!” Megatron gave him a nervous chuckle, briefly glancing at the figure which found itself on the ground. “My opinion, well...”

Bulkhead rose an optical ridge at him.

“Is everything alright?” He asked.

“Of course! I just got distrated for a klik! My opinion is that both options are good in their own ways, whatever they are!”

The figure turned around and noticed the presence of two giant robots. Megatron easily recognised it. It was Carl, the former inventor who visited them a few days ago. Bulkhead felt an urge to turn around, but as soon as Megatron noticed it, he immediately stopped him.

“... Ooon the other side, I’d love to know your opinion on the matter! After all, I think I’ve done more than enough for the design, why should I take all the fun from you?”

Bulkhead gave him a sceptical look.

“You’re acting really weird.” He stated.

“Am I?” Megatron shrugged, grinning like an idiot. “I didn’t notice. Come on, how would you take care of this?”

Bulkhead was still suspicious, but decided to go with it for now.

“I think it would be easier with pincers.” He started, looking down. “We should have enough parts left to make them extendable. On the other servo, scooping claw would prove itself more effective-” While he was talking, Megatron started nodding his head to Carl multiple times, trying to signal something to him. Carl didn’t seem to get it, but judging by Megatron’s company, he needed to move. The inventor pointed at Megatron’s room and wrapped the cloak around himself, disappearing completely.

“Are you listening?” Bulkhead asked. He started looking somewhat irritated by Megatron’s behaviour.

“O-oh, I’m so sorry Bulk.” Megatron said, returning his attention to the green mech. Bulkhead turned around and when he was met with nothing behind him returned to the Decepticon.

“This is getting tiresome.” He said.

“Yes!” Megatron suddenly beamed out. “Yes, it is! I’m really tired! It’s a truly challenging task and I think we should think about it for some time before deciding anything! Perhaps we could make a decision in the morning?” He asked, almost not holding his panicked tone at all. He expected Bulkhead to ask more questions, but thankfully the other just sighed. 

“Fine.” He agreed. “If that will help you stop drifting away every five nano-cycles.”

“It will, I promise!” Megatron smiled.

“I guess some rest won’t harm anyone. Get some rest and I’ll take care of Sparkplug in the meantime.” He was about to pick up their drone, when suddenly Megatron blocked him.

“W-wait, you’re not planning on spending the whole night online, do you?” He asked.

“Megatron...” Bulkhead gave him a little frown. 

“I knew it!” Megatron narrowed his optics, pointing his digit at the other. “You **were** planning on staying online at night!”

“Just a few tests before recharge.” Bulkhead said. “Control efficiency, signal, those things, it takes a beat. Now, can you **please** give me Sparkplug?” He reached towards the drone, but Megatron quickly turned away with it.

“I think I’ll be taking it for the night if that’s alright.”

“But-”

“Ashashashash!” Bulkhead started, but then paused when Megatron shushed him, waving his digit at him. “You’re recharging tonight, just like the rest of us and that’s not a request. I won’t recharge peacefully knowing that you’re out there losing your rest and in the end of the day, is a poor rest a good one at all?” 

Bulkhead stared at him for some time before groaning in defeat. 

“Alright. You can keep it for tonight.” 

“Thank you.” Megatron nodded, smiling proudly. “Have a good rest.” 

After that they parted their ways, Bulkhead started mumbling something under his breath on the passing. When he was away, Megatron sighed in relief and headed to his room. 

\----- 

Once Megatron stepped in, Carl stood up and revealed himself. He saw how the mech looked behind himself and placed some strange looking bot on the floor before stepping closer. 

"Carl.” The mech started and kneeled before him. “What are you doing here?" 

“Well, you did say I’m always welcomed if I decided to come back...” Carl smiled nervously. 

"Yes, I remember saying that, but...” Megatron continued. His expression didn’t seem to contain anger nor disappointment, but it lacked the previous warm smile he was introduced with as well. “I just didn't expect to meet you so soon again." 

"Neither did I, if I’m being honest.” Carl admitted. “It’s... been a really crazy week, yeah.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“After I finished my report, boss immediately called me and told me to renew my investigation. I think he didn’t take it seriously." 

"I'm sorry to hear that." Megatron said. If he didn’t control himself at the moment, he’d let out the loudest wheeze he was able to make. 

"I should be the one apologising.” Carl sighed, shaking his head. That made Megatron lose his amused state. “I told them everything you told me, but despite my efforts, our worlds are not the same. Things about your species are so different and, well, viewed as bizarre that if I told a random stranger on the street how you function for example, they would consider it too surreal to be true. I really, really hate to do that, but I need to ask you to repeat the whole session. I have different set of questions this time, but just know that no matter what the answers would be, I believe you and your words. If you still want to cooperate, that is. I can’t really blame you for refusing." 

.... Well. What’s more to say, Megatron was floored. He actually started feeling guilty for making Carl believe his lies and, what’s worse, respect them. But he still couldn’t shake off a feeling that there was something suspicious about this whole organisation the inventor was working for. Perhaps he had a chance to learn something more about it now that Carl returned. 

“... It’s alright.” After some time Megatron replied, giving Carl a reassuring smile. 

“Really?” The inventor felt surprised and relieved at the same time. “Are you sure it’s alright?” 

“Yes.” He nodded. “And you know what? This time I’ll clarify my answer so your boss will know that you’re telling the truth. Do you have that square device making photos with you?” 

“My phone, yeah. Megatron, that’s...” Carl smiled back. “I would really appreciate that.” 

“Well, that’s settled then. Oh, Carl, one more thing.” 

"Yes?” 

“Warn me next time you’re going to visit, alright? I need some time to clean and everything, you know.” 

“Oh, of course. Sorry about that.” The inventor apologised, pulling out his notebook with golden light bulb badge. "So, should we begin?" 

"One klik." Megatron said. He gently rose the sheet wall separating him from Bulkhead's room and saw the green mech standing in his vehicle form in the middle of his room, recharging as he promised. 

"Alright, we should be good." The Decepticon whispered and returned to him. 


	10. Tying Loose Ends part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you like extreme juggling and sad fist bumps, please consider leaving Kudos and Comments under my work.

On the next day Moonracer was ready to train with Bumbleee. She found a wooden plank large enough for her to grasp and met with him in his room.

“You have to know the right moment to grab on it.” Bumblebee instructed, spinning his metal pole around. “First of all, you have to know how to do it. Sense the right moment, trust your reflexes, and just... You know.” Suddenly , he threw it in the air, swirled around, and caught it with his other servo. Moonracer clapped him.

“How long did it take you to master this?” She asked.

“Oh, years.” Bumblebee admitted. “It took me a long while to get there, but I wasn’t giving up and kept training. That’s basically the most important thing to remember. No matter how many times you fail, as long as you won’t stop practicing, you’ll get there. Do you want to try now?”

“Yeah!” Moonracer nodded. Bumblebee stepped back and she straightened up. Slowly, she repated the entire process. Spinning, throwing, and then an attempt to grab it. Unfortunately, when she saw that the plank was approaching, she instinctively jerked her servo back, making it fall next to her. “Sorry!”

“Don’t be.” Bumblebee chuckled. ”You don’t have to worry, this is not going to hurt as much as the metal one.”

“I know.” Moonracer sighed and picked it up. “This looked much easier when you were doing it.”

“Everything looks easier when it’s done by someone else.”

“I wish it was as easy as for someone else.”

Bumblebee grabbed his chin and hummed, then smiled and snapped his digits. “Okay, I have an idea!”

“Hm?”

“Can you juggle?” He asked.

“Oh. A bit, I think.

“Can I see it?”

“Sure.” Moonracer agreed. She grabbed her plank and started throwing it from servo to servo. 

“That’s good, now try this.” Bumblebee started juggling as well. When he was about to throw the pole, he made sure to angle it in the way to make it spin in the air. When it was heading back, he grabbed one of it’s ends and effectively caught it.

Moonracer mimicked him, throwing the plank from servo to servo and spinning it in the air. She failed to grab it only three, maybe four times. 

“There we go!” Bumblebee cheered. “Are you sure that it’s your fist practice?”

That made Moonracer chuckle.

“Keep practicing, kid. I know you’ll nail it one day.” Bumblebee smiled and gave her thumbs up.

“I will.” Moonracer smiled back. “Again, thank you so much for helping me out.”

“And again, anytime. Ready for a second round?”

“Ready for a second round!”

\-----  
Ever since their last meeting, Carl's visits became more regular. The human inventor kept arriving often and had more questions to ask. Megatron tried to lie as much as he could, but this time he made sure to analyse what was coming out of his mouth. From now on his answers were more grounded. He also tried talking with Carl about that whole mysterious company of his, but the inventor kept avoiding the topic.

"What you see in here is a car from Jaguar company. The one you recently scanned." Carl said, holding up a picture of a car. 

“Ah yes,” Megatron agreed. “It certainly looks familiar.”

“Your ability to adapt and change shape is by far the most impressive detail about Cybertronian kind. It’s also a complete enigma to us. Do all of you is capable of doing that, or?...”

“Last time I checked, yes. It’s mutual.” Megatron said, supporting his head with his servo.

“Okay, noted. Now.” Carl changed the picture. It was the same car, but only one half of it. The parts of it’s construction were visibly labeled. “That’s how it originally looked like. Do you think there is a way that the construction changes whenever you scan a vehicle?”

“Now, **that’s** an interesting question!” Megatron grinned. “I never thought about it that way. At least not at the right time. It’s like some kind of thought you’re having when you’re exhausted and about to enter recharge, but your processor gives out one final hypothetical scenario and you just know it shouldn’t, but it’s definetly going to bother you for the next two days.”

“Oh, you have that too? I mean.” Carl awkwardly coughed. “Can we focus?”

“Right, right, of course. I don’t have the slightest idea, if I’m being honest. Just like you humans, we can’t see what we have inside. To know such detail I’d have to crack myself open while in an alt mode, but that would end quite tragically for me if not supervised correctly.”

“Oh, I see.” Carl put the pictures under his arm and pulled out his notebook. While he was writing results of their session, Megatron couldn’t help but stare at the golden light bulb badge attached to it’s front. It’d been haunting him for a while now. He knew that Carl would propably shy away from it again, but Megatron was willing to try one more time.

“Hey, uh. Do you think we can take a break?” He asked, gaining Carl’s attention. “All this sitting and talking sure made me tired.”

“Oh, sure!” Carl agreed, closing the notebook and hiding it in his cloak. “Break sounds good.”

“Break it is then!” Megatron cheered, joining his servos together. 

“Yeah, just give me a second.” Carl kneeled and started picking up papers from the floor. 

“Wow.” Megatron said. “I don’t remember answering this many questions.”

“Oh no, no.” Carl chuckled. “Those are not our sessions. A few colleagues gave me their projects to look at them and I didn’t have a chance to get to my apartment today, plus the bag I ordered hasn’t arrived yet. I’m kind of doomed to carry them around.”

“I feel for you.” Megatron replied sympathetically. “This looks like a lot of work.”

“Oh, that’s only from today.” Carl finally managed to arrange all papers into a pile and hide it. “It’s a company’s tradition that freshmen get to help others with their projects for some time.”

“You’re a freshman?”

“I know it may sounds shocking.” Carl grinned, crossing his arms. “But yes. I’ve been working for that company for a couple of months now.”

Now Megatron knew that he didn’t like that company at all. Who in the right mind and good spirit sends freshmen on a mission to break into a secret goverment facility? But now that they were finally on that topic, he had a chance to learn something more about it.

“A few months?” He raised an optical ridge. “That’s kind of strange.”

“What do you mean?” Carl asked.

“Forgive my curiosity, but is this how your usual day at work looks like? I mean, you know, is breaking into secret facilities and interviewing really cool aliens an usual job for your planet’s freshmen?”

“Uh... No.” Carl couldn’t help, but give him a puzzled look. “You are the only case I had.”

“Ah, I see.” Megatron nodded. “In that case they must pay you a lot, because the ammount of you breaking into it and risking getting caught is both worrying and extemely impressive.”

“I- okay, hold on.” Carl said, unfolding his arms. “I don’t think I follow, are you trying to tell me something right now?”

“Oh no, no.” Megatron waved his servos, shaking his head. “That was far from my intentions, I deeply apologise if it sounded this way. It’s just... I’m concerned about you. I’m still quite unfamiliar with Earth, so I may as well be wrong. I just don’t want you to be pressured or used by anyone, especially your work place.”

The inventor didn’t answer right away and that made Megatron anxious.

“My work is...” He finally replied, trying to calm Megatron’s concern. “Not perfect by any means, but I enjoy it. No other job would grand me this kind of creative freedom or access to technological study. I consider myself extremely lucky that they hired me in the first place.”

“But you at least went through an application process, right?”

“Sort of... Before I got that job, I had a blog on which I’d show progres of building my inventions. It wasn’t a popular blog by any means, so I never thought it would lead me all the way here. One day I got a call from the company and they told me to bring one of my inventions with me.” Suddenly, Carl’s expression became more thoughtful. “The, uh... The presentation didn’t go too well, but they gave me the job anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters, I can’t really call it a presentation at all. There was a huge line of people that also wanted to be employed and by the time I got to my turn, the meeting was over. They gave me another chance in the next day, but... all they did was just look at it for some time. They didn’t ask any questions or even wanted me to show if it’s functional, they just asked what it was for and the job was mine.”

“Carl, that...” Megatron’s gaze softened. Carl was beyond impressed how expressive metal on his face was. “That sounds horrible. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, there’s no need.” Carl assured. “The most important thing is that I got it and I can freely work on my inventions. I managed to improve some of them already. Once older employees’ projects will be revieved, I’ll have a chance to show them what I can do.”

“You mean all those employees whose projects you’re carrying around with yourself?” Megatron asked, gesturing at the inventor’s cloak.

“Uh...” Carl couldn’t help, but look away. “Yeah...”

Megatron frowned.

“But I assure you it’s not as bad as it sounds.” Carl continued. “I still have a lot of time to work at both other and my own projects. I know how much I can handle.”

“Still, it seems rather unfair that you have to help everyone with their improvement and no one’s going to even bat an eye on yours.”

“That’s how things are, I’m afraid.” Carl sighed. “There’s really not much I can do about it.” 

Oh, how much Megatron hated that attitude. He perfectly understood where it was coming from, but at the same time couldn’t accept it. The lack of any power over things affecting one’s life, especially negatively, was leaving a bitter feeling in his spark. 

Suddenly, Megatron had an idea.

“Hey, Carl.” He leaned a bit closer to the inventor and smiled. “How about instead of waiting for a reviev, I’ll give you one right now?”

“... What?” Carl blinked in confusion. 

“I can’t guarantee you that it will be as satisfying as your job’s, but I’d love to give a fellow science lover my piece of mind about their hard work. I’ve introduced you to Sparkplug already, correct?”

“Yes, you did.” Carl nodded. 

“And you said it was as impressive as it was adorable. Those simple words meant the absolute world to me and made my entire week. So maybe I can take a look at your project too?” 

“...A...” Carl spoke as he adjusted his glasses, not fully knowing how to respond to that offer. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s not really anything groundbreaking.”

“I don’t expect it to be such.”

“Well... okay. If you want to... You know, funny thing. I actually have one work in progress with me today. “ 

Carl reached to his cloak and pulled out his invention. It looked like a water gun of some sort with a cogwheel glued to it’s side. Megatron studied it carefully.

“I like the colours.” He commented.

“Thanks. So, about the presentation...” Carl gestured at Megatron to step back.

“Oh, right.” Megatron jumped back and made Carl room to perform.

“Again, it’s just a work in progress, so don’t expect much.” Carl said, then focused on his invention. First, he spun it’s side cohwheel, picking it’s settings. Then, he pushed a red button on it’s top and aimed it in the air, making sure not to hit Megatron with it. After some time he squeezed the trigger and fired a single laser shot which created a giant red bubble before the mech. 

Megatron jumped in surprise and leaned back. He calmed in a second and focused on the bubble with utmost amazement.

"This, uh...” Carl started, massaging his neck. “This doesn't have any official name yet. For now I like to call it ‘Flexible Barrier’. My niece loves playing with bubbles and I wanted to make her a bubble machine for her birthday. However, as I was working on it, I discovered that I may have created something beyond just that.”

“How does it work?” Megatron curiously asked, glancing at Carl.

"Touch it." The inventor said.

“Are you sure? It looks fragile.”

“It definetly does.” Carl grinned, gesturing at the bubble. “Be my guest.”

Megatron glanced back at the floating orb. He extended one of his pointed digits and gently touched it's surface. 

"Don't be scared to put more force into it." Carl insisted. Megatron touched it again, this time with an attempt to pop it. To his pleasant surprise however, the bubble bounced off his digit and continued existing.

“Oh...” Megatron murmured, poking it again. After a second he decided to catch it and made it bounce up and down on his servo.

"Resilient, right? With just a few modifications, it could survive a car crash, plane crash, drowning, fire, or even a small explosion. It could potentially save many lives. Oh, plus it comes in different varities.” The inventor started spinning the cogwheel again and fired it, creating multiple colourful bubbles around the room.

Megatron’s optics sparkled and his smile widened as he observed as his room filled with all colours of the rainbow.

“To make Flexible Barriers disappear, you have to either wait a few hours or simply reverse the effects. Like this.” He pushed the red button and it flashed with green, then aimed at a few bubbles which immediately popped.

“Can I try squishing it?” Megatron asked, grabbing the red Flexible Barrier with both of his servos.

“You can, but I think the impact would be strong enough to-” Before he could finish his sentence, both him and Megatron were splashed with red substance that used to be the bubble with a loud popping sound. Carl managed to shield himself a bit while Megatron was completely covered in red.

“... Yeah. Strong enough to do this.” Carl said. “Sorry, I... I should’ve warned you right away. You okay?”

Megatron was completely still for some time before he started making muffled sounds. Carl got a bit worried that something happened to him. Suddenly, the mech started cracking up and finally burst into uncontrollable laugher. Carl was completely caught off guard by that.

“Megatron is everything alright?” He asked, making a few steps towards him. Megatron bended in his direction, wrapping his arms around his stomach as he laughed. Carl seeing his reaction started cracking up himself. After some time he finally gave in and joined Megatron in his sudden outburst.

After a few minutes their laughter died down and they finally started calming down. Carl let out a sigh while Megatron made one last final wheeze.

“Well, that was..” Megatron chuckled, looking up at Carl. “That was an interesting experience.”

“Yes.” Carl snorted, wiping the remainings of red bubble from his face. “I agree. So, any final verdict?”

“I think this is the best thing anyone has ever created. I am not even exaggerating!” Megatron straighened up and smiled. “And I can see it’s something you’re very proud of. And you’re right, I’ve never seen more unique or creative invention and I’ve been alive for a very long time. And you created it in such generous goal in mind. Whatever fundings that company of yours is giving you, they sould be giving you twice as much plus extra time to work on it. I absolutely love it!”

Carl didn’t have any response to that. Instead, he just gave Megatron the happiest smile the big mech had ever seen on him. Suddenly, his expression saddend and he looked down, making Megatron worried again.

“Is something wrong?” He asked.

“Well, I uh... I...” Carl took a deep breath and looked back up. “Thank you. Thank you so much for those words and everything else, but...” 

Oh no. Anything but the ‘but’s!

“I’m not really supposed to tell you this, but I have some bad news.” Megatron’s expression softened as he gave the inventor a questioning look. “... I won’t be able to return the next week.”

“Oh.” Megatron said, smiling. “Alright, I understand. If you have a doctor appointment or a family case or something smiliar like that, you need to do what you need to do and that’s-”

“No, this isn’t... I am not coming back in few days, or few weeks, I’m not coming back at all. My investigation is over.” Carl finally confessed, immediately regretting it.

“... Oh...” Megatron quietly replied. The inventor couldn’t help, but look away. 

“I tried asking for a few more days, but we have everything we needed. There is no further need for our temporary partnership. There may be some next attempts at making contacts with your kind, but I’m not going to be the one representing it anymore.” 

The two of them avoided each other’s glances for some time until Catl broke the silence again.

“I just wanted to say that,” He started, gaining Megatron’s attention back. “I’m very happy with results of my investigation. You were a great listener and even better speaker. I owe you a big one for all your help and time.”

Megatron couldn’t help, but give him a sad smile.

“Thank you.” He said. “You were the best company I can imagine and I couldn’t have been happier that you were the one who was leading this investigation. And... Can you do me a small favour, Carl?

“I’m listening.”

“Keep working on your ideas, alright? Maybe one day they’ll save somebody’s life.”

“... I’ll do my best.” Carl returned the smile. He held up his arm and offered Megatron a fist bump. 

“So, uh... See you around, Megatron?”

Megatron looked at it and then chuckled, giving Carl a gentle fist bump. 

“See you around.”


	11. Tying Loose Ends part 2

“Bumblebee.” Miranda called out. Bumblebee walked up to her and kneeled before her.

“Yes?” He asked. Miranda pulled out from under her desk a blue plastic pot and gave it to him. Inside was a plant Bumblebee wasn’t familiar with yet.

“This is a cactus, the least demanding plant on our planet.” She stated. “It should be a good start for your garden.”

Bumblebee glanced down at the cactus and studied it. It was a rich green plant with protective spikes all around itself. It’s entire top was covering a single pink delicate looking pink flower that the mech had never seen before. His optics sparkled and he looked like he was about to start crying. Miranda quickly reacted at that.

“Is something wrong?”

“I love it...” Bumblebee whispered, bringing the pot closer to himself. “Thank you. You have my word, I will take care of it as best as I can.”

After a second he stood up and headed to the place he decided to start his garden from. Miranda observed his leave and shook her head, returned back to her work.

\-----

“Hey, Roddy.” Moonracer walked to Hot Rod who was sitting in the corner and drawing something on a big metal plate. He looked up and gave her a questioning look. “Check this out!”

Moonracer started juggling three wooden planks. Unfortunately she lost her rythm rather quickly and dropped two of them on the floor.

“Wow, Moon. I didn’t know you could drop stuff.” He smirked.

“I’d like to see you doing better.” She pouted, picking the planks up and pointing it at him.

“You know I propably won’t.” He pouted back.

“Then better be shush. I know I can do it!”

“Oh, I know that too. I just like when you deny people who are trying to bring you down.”

“Dork.”

“No, you.”

“No, you!”

“No, you!-”

Ravage observed the two of them from the distance. He couldn’t help, but remember the time he spent with his siblings and Soundwave, when things weren’t twice as complicated as now. He never thought he’d be willing to give everything just to have a single interaction like that again. He looked away in order to think of something else, when Megatron walked out of his room with a sad expression. He sat next to Ravage and let out a sigh, bumping his back against the wall.

“Something wrong?” Ravage asked.

“No, nothing.” Megatron assured. “It’s just... Carl won’t be coming back anymore.”

“Oh...” Ravage straightened up, looking down. “That’s... a shame. I’m sorry, I know you two got along really well.”

“We did, but in the end of the day, it was just a business matter. This was meant to happen sooner or later. Still, it’s sad to part ways so unexpectedly.”

“Yeah, I relate to that. But you managed to learn something about that organisation, right?”

“Except the fact that it’s suspicious? They’re absolutely the worst. I hope he’ll see that one day and find a better job for himself.” He paused and glanced at Ravage. “Sorry. I could’ve told you that he’s leaving so you could say goodbye.”

“Oh no, I’m glad you didn’t. You know how much I hate goodbyes.”

“Right... And how are you holding up?”

Ravage sighed, bumping his head against Megatron’s chest. Megatron caught it and then pulled him closer into a hug.

“Soundwave?” He asked. The Minicon gave him a nod. “I see...”

Ravage closed his optics and melted into the bigger mech’s embrace. He learned to greatly appreciate small gestures like that, because they felt like all he had truly left.

“Aha!” Suddenly they heard a loud shout which made them break the hug and turn around. It was Bulkhead. He was pointing at Sparkplug which picked a couple of books with it’s metal claw. “I knew it needed a claw!”

This made Miranda snort as she observed Sparkplug moving around and picking random objects, while Bulkhead looked like he was having the absolute time of his life.

Moonracer and Hot Rod looked at each other before smiling.

“Can we try? Moonracer asked, heading to Bulkhead. Hot Rod tried to put the plate in his subspace, but it slipped out before he noticed and followed his amica.

“Just be careful with it.” Bulkhead smiled, giving the two the controller. “You move it with this, this and this.”

Megatron and Ravage chuckled at that. The bigger mech turned to the Minicon and gave him an assuring smile.

“Ravage,” He said, making Ravage look up. “no matter what happens, you can always count on me. I can’t say that things will ever go back to normal, but they will eventually get better. That’s still something, right?”

Ravage couldn’t help but smile back, nodding.

“Yeah.” He agreed. “I can live with that for now.”

After a second Megatron noticed the metal plate on the floor and stood up to pick it up.

“Hot Rod, you left...” He wanted to give it back to the youngling before he noticed what he was sketching. He brought it closer to himslef and began analysing it.

Hot Rod made portrait of five Cybertronians, one still a work in progess. Megatron managed to recognise their figures. Breakdown, Slipstream, the one he had trouble recognising, Ravage and then there was his portrait next to them. Above the drawings was text that read:

‘Decepticons’, 'Known members: Megatron, Ravage, 3 others, possibly more.', 'Motives: Unknown/Very bad stuff', 'Dangerous?: Yeah!!!', 'Weaknesses: Unknown.', Leader/s: Megatron(?)', ‘Second in Command: Unknown’, ‘Characteristics: Deceptive, mean, brutal, fakely nice.’. Once of the texts was bolded out and bigger than the rest. It read: **‘None of them should be trusted!’**

Megatron’s expression saddened again. He let out a tired ex vent and put the plate down, flipping it on it’s back. He saw Hot Rod and Moonracer being occupied with piloting Sparkplug and decided to walk away, letting them find it themselves later.

\-----

Meanwhile Frenzy was looking through the Nemesis' window at the ocean floor. The sea creatures were swimming closer towards him from time to time due to his bright blue bio lights, but he didn’t even acknowledge their existence until they lost interest and moved on. Normally he’d be excited to see new surroundings and everything they had to offer, but not this time. His mind was occupying something else.

"Pssst." Suddenly he heard a whisper. He looked down and spotted his twin crawling out of the vent.

“Hey, bro.” Rumble sAID. "You're alright there?”

"Yeah.” Frenzy replied. “Why?"

"I haven’t seen you all day. Soundwave was considering coming over, but I told him that I’d talk to you. What’s bugging ya?"

"I'm just worried about Ravage." Frenzy replied, turning back to the window. "I hope he's alright wherever he is right now."

"He can take care of himself, you of all bots should know that." Rumble jumped on the counter and sat next to Frenzy.

"Yeah, I know." Frenzy sighed. "Still. If he stayed with us he wouldn't have to be all alone out there. What in the Cybertron came over him?"

"That's what I kept asking!" Another voice spoke. The twins looked around the room and spotted Ratbat hanging off the roof.

"What if something will happen to him and- and no one's going to be by his side? Or what if he'll get lonely? I wouldn't survive if I was left alone for so long!"

“Rat, what are you doing on my roof?” Frenzy squinted.

“Oh, I... you know.” Batrat nervously chuckled, shrugging. “Hanging around...?”

“... Get down.”

“Getting down...”

::I see you guys are overreacting as usual.:: Yet another voice joined. Out of the vent flied out Laserbeak. She jumped on the table next to the window and puffed out her chest.

“Seriously?” Frenzy frowned. “What, is Soundwave gonna come our of that vent too?”

::I can assure you that we are alone. And what should interest us the most at the moment is the fact that Starscream is planning something big.::

"Yeah? And what are we supposed to do about it?" Frenzy crossed his arms.

::Something. Anything. And if Soundwave's not going to do anything about it, we have to be the ones to take action.::

"Didn't we already lose enough?" He continued. "Do you really want to go through another parting? Because that’s what might happen when Soundwave finds out.”

::Oh, Frenzy.:: Laserbeak shook her head. ::For someone acting so smart, you're so stupid sometimes.::

Frenzy grimanced. Laserbeak jumped to him and gave him a gentle peck on the head. ::Just because we share a bond, doesn't mean we have to tell him everything. Have some Minicon respect for yourself in the future, alright?::

"Wait," Rumble joined his digits, looking thoughtful. "if I understand this correctly, what you're saying is that we should double cross double crossers? Would that be called double double crossing or fourfold crossing?"

"Rumble, I don't think this makes any sense." Batrat stated.

"You don't make any sense!" Rumble shouted back, pointing at him. Laserbeak lowered his arm, jumping on the floor and turning to her brothers.

::What I'm trying to say is, just because Starscream let us out doesn't mean we owe him enough to let him put others in harm’s way. I'm going to make sure that he won't spiral out of control and residents of this planet along with Soundwave, Ravage, and even Megatron, will remain safe. But I need you guys to help me. We’ve gone throught so much together, I know we can go through this too. We finally have the power to do something, why not use it for good? So... who wants to play some fourfold crossers?:: She asked, extending her wing. Rumble smiled and immediately jumped off the counter, putting his servo on it. There was a silent moment between Frenzy and Batrat before the latter flew down and joined the huddle.

"Batrat?" Frenzy asked, completely caught off guard. "I get Rumble, but you?"

"If I have to be honest," Batrat strached his back, slightly looking away. "I don't trust anyone on this ship as much as I do the three of you."

"Come on, bro." Rumble insisted, extending his arm towards his twin. Frenzy looked at him sceptically, then glanced at the ocean for the last time.

"Oh, what the frag." After some time he groaned and jumped down, joining the rest. "We were created together, we may as well go down together."

"That's the spirit!" Rumble laughed, wrapping his arm around Frenzy.

"So, what's the plan?" Frenzy gently pushed him back and turned to Laserbeak.

::First step, we watch and learn. Just like we always do. Second step, no matter what, we have to stop Starscream's plan before he can finish i-::

::Minicons.::

Suddenly, the group heard Soundwave's commanding voice. It was coming from their bond.

::Meeting at the bridge. Matter: Important.::

"... Wow. They didn't announce anything for like three days and now is the time to continue." Rumble commented.

"What are we going to do now?!" Batrat asked, starting to panic.

::We stick to the first step and keep low profile.:: Laserbeak said, activating her engines and flying up. ::Keep your bond connections clear. I have a feeling we're going to need them.::  
\-----  
The group of Minicons arrived at the bridge and joined Soundwave. Everyone was already there, Shockwave was typing something on his console, Barricade stood as far from him as possible, Slipstream was pretending to look not interested, Breakdown stood close to Soundwave, and Starscream was in front of the Nemesis' computer.

"Hello, everyone. It’s good to see you again. Before we begin, I have an important question to you." Starscream started when he knew everyone was present. After a second he turned around and opened a file which contained schematics of some factory. He smirked as he gave each Decepticon a glance.

“Who would like to get their servos dirty?”

**Tranformers: Metal force will continue...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like sketching portraits of your enemies and strong sibling solidarity, please consider leaving Kudos and Comments under my work.


End file.
